Identity
If you were asked to identify yourself, what would you do? That might depend on who was asking; if it was a police officer, you’d probably pull out your driver’s license. If it was a guard at your workplace, you’d pull out your employee badge. In some instances they might want to see your student ID card, your green card, or a copy of your social security card or birth certificate. On a website you might have a user id and password you have to enter.
All of these types of identification are a physical representation of an association. Your birth certificate shows who your parents are, and where and when you were born. It shows what family you belong to, and what country you are a citizen of.
There are records behind those pieces of identification – someone has gone through a process to verify your identity, and that you have a right to the association with that organization. I.e., someone can type in your ID number at a computer, and gain access to the information that that organization has about you. That information could be your credit history, or your criminal record, your grade transcripts, your tax returns.
With each association comes access and privileges. A student ID gives you access to the campus, classes, the library, etc. A driver’s license gives you the right to operate an automobile on our roads. A green card gives a foreign national the right to be employed in this country. An employee badge gives you access to the company buildings. Being a US citizen (verifiable through your social security number) gives you the right to vote.
If asked to describe themselves, men tend to answer in terms of what they do – their vocation – and women in terms of their associations – wife of, mother of, daughter of, friend of.
A person gets a sense of purpose from their identity. But earthly vocations and associations can change. A man could retire or get laid off. The kids grow up and move away. A marriage can end in divorce, or by a spouse dying.
If your whole sense of purpose is defined by these transient earthly associations, you can be in trouble when they go away.
Your New Identity
When a person is born again, they gain a new identity through change of associations.
Colossians 1:13 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
The word translated conveyed here means to transfer from one place to another. We have been taken out from under the domain of darkness, and put into the kingdom of the Son. This is a change of citizenship.
John 17:14-16 14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
We live in this world, but we are not of it. We are citizens of heaven (even though we haven’t been there yet!). Specifically, we are ambassadors of heaven sent to the world with the ministry and word of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20).
The next part of our new identity is that we have had a change of families.
Romans 8:14-16 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 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.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
John 1:12 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
The third thing that has happened through our new identity is that we receive a change of nature.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
When we are born again, we are transformed into a new creation – a new species of being that did not exist before. You’ve seen the bumper sticker, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”? Although I understand the sentiment, there is an element of untruth in it. We are not just forgiven – we are given a new spiritual nature.
We can be transformed when we come to know and believe who and what God says we are.
Most of the attacks of the enemy, the lies he feeds us, have to do with our identity.
When Jesus was baptized by John, and the voice from heaven announced “This is My beloved Son!” and afterwards went into the wilderness, what was the thing that Satan questioned Him on? “If You are the Son of God….”
He does the same to you. “If you are a son, or a daughter of God, you would do this”. Now he usually can’t get us to doubt that we are children of God, but He will say you don’t measure up – you are doing this, or you’re not doing that.
The sad thing is that a lot of the time we believe him and tell ourselves that.
Who do you say that I am?
Matthew 16:13-18 13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Every person needs to answer the question asked by Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon answered the question correctly, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. But even if we say the same thing as Simon, it is not enough for us, because we would just be quoting what Simon said. The real question is, who is He to you?
Simon’s answer was significant, and Jesus called him blessed, because he wasn’t just parroting what he had heard someone else say – he had a revelation from God. And when Simon told Jesus who he believed Jesus was, Jesus told Simon who he was – “you are Peter, a rock.” Basically he renamed him “Rocky”. He gave him a new name, a new thing to call himself – a new identity.
Who Do You Say That You Are?
The next important thing that we should take inventory of, is who do you say that you are? Do you describe yourself by your past experience, or by what God says you are?
Most of our self description is in our self talk, going on in our heads. Most of that self talk is negative – criticizing ourselves. Sometimes it comes out your mouth. I’ve caught myself calling myself stupid on more than one occasion.
Fortunately we have been given a powerful weapon to combat these things – our tongue. But we need to learn how to use it wisely so we don’t shoot off our own toes.
Words have way more power than you know. This universe was created by words, and right now is being held together by God’s words (Hebrews 1:3, upholding all things by the word of His power).
The book of Proverbs has much to say about the importance of words and the power of the tongue. They have a common theme: the words you speak will bring either blessing or cursing to your life or others’.
Proverbs 10:19-20 19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little.
Proverbs 11:11 11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
Proverbs 12:6 6 The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,” But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.
Proverbs 12:13-14 13 The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will come through trouble.
14 A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him.
Remember the childhood saying “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me”? It’s a lie. Bones will heal. Words can cause wounds that can cripple a person for a lifetime.
Proverbs 13:2-3 2 A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
Proverbs 14:3 NASB In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back, But the lips of the wise will protect them.
Proverbs 18:7 7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul.
Proverbs 21:23 23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
They culminate in this verse:
Proverbs 18:20-21 20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21 MSG Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
That is pretty strong language. Solomon talks of the power of the tongue. Your words contain power when you speak them. The power to produce death, or power to produce life.
Control Your Tongue
James 3:2-12 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
There are two things that need to be addressed when we talk about our words. First, is to eliminate the negative – the words of death and cursing. Second, is to start using words positively – words of life and blessing.
First, James makes the statement that if you can control your tongue, you can control your whole body (vs. 2). Most people take that to mean that the tongue is the hardest thing to control, so if you get hold of it, the rest is easy. But there is more to it than that.
Look at vs. 10 again:
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Most people read this and think that sometimes we say good things about people, and sometimes we say bad things about people. That is involved, yes. But James had just talked about how the tongue can control your direction, your course, your destiny. There are many more verses from Proverbs than we listed that also show that your words influence how your life goes. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
James is not just saying that sometimes we say good things and sometimes we say bad things, but by the words of our mouth we can produce blessing in our lives and others’, or a curse.
One of the main reasons some people have so much trouble in their lives is because they have cursed themselves with their own mouth.
Controlling the course of your life
Look at James 3 again:
James 3:2-5 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
What is James saying here? Well, what is the purpose of the bit in the horse’s mouth, or the rudder on a ship? They control the direction, or course, that you are going in. If James were writing today he might make the analogy of the steering wheel on a car.
Your mouth controls the direction you are going in. That is the ultimate power of words in our life, and most Christians don’t have a clue about it.
What if you don’t like the direction your life is going in? You need to turn the wheel! Turn it towards the direction you want to go in!
Keith Moore in his series on the Power of the Tongue (he was the one who came up with the steering wheel analogy) tells the story of a brother that came to him for prayer because he couldn’t quit smoking. He’d done a lot of praying, had people pray for him, he’d throw his cigarettes away but then go out and buy some more after a day. He tried nicotine gum and the patch. Nothing seemed to work.
Keith told him, “Now here’s what I want you to do. Every time you light up a cigarette, I want you to say, ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. Cigarettes have no power over me.’”
“But I’d be smoking!”
“Never mind that. Every time you buy a pack of cigarettes, say, ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. Cigarettes have no power over me.’. Say it when you set them on your bedstand at night, and when you pick them up in the morning. When you’re puffing on a cigarette, look at it and say, ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. You have no power over me.’”
“But… I’d still be smoking!”
“Don’t worry about that. Keep saying it and don’t quit, ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. Cigarettes have no power over me.’. Promise me you’ll do that and keep it up.”
So, he finally agreed to do it and went away. Three weeks later Keith saw him come in, grinning from ear to ear. “Brother Keith, guess what!”
“I don’t have to guess, you quit smoking. Tell me how it happened.”
“Well, I did what you said. Every time I lit up a cigarette, I’d say ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. Cigarettes have no power over me.’. At first I felt really stupid, like I was being a hypocrite. But I kept saying it, because I promised you I would.
“I’d do it when I opened a new pack, or bought cigarettes. I said it when I went to bed at night and set them on the bedstand. When I was puffing on a cigarette, I looked at it and said, ‘Thank God I am delivered from nicotine addiction. You have no power over me.’”
“It got to the point where it became automatic, I didn’t even have to think about it. The words would just come out of my mouth.”
“About a week ago, I was going to light up a smoke, and I started to say the words. But then all of a sudden it hit me – ‘Wait a minute, I’m delivered from nicotine addictions! I don’t have to smoke you!’ I put it down, and I haven’t picked one up since! I haven’t even had the desire to smoke! God delivered me from nicotine addiction!”
Where do you want to be in 5 years? What are your dreams? Start talking them!
Continued in Part Four
