A few years ago, I preached a sermon on a special occasion in a church where I invited all of my family to attend – and the sermon was entitled, “WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN.” I wonder how you would answer the question if someone asked you, “Why are you a Christian?”
My answer was as follows….
I am a Christian

• Because I am a sinner in need of a Saviour
• Because one day I am going to die
• Because of who Jesus is
• Because of my deepest needs

In particular, it is only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that my deepest needs for IDENTITY can be satisfied.

The issue of IDENTITY is an important question because it answers the question that faces each one of us – WHO AM I?  Our behaviour as a person stems from our understanding of who we are. Problems in our lives often develop when our basic identity needs to be valued and loved as a person are threatened. For our DOING comes out of our BEING. We are human beings before we are human doings.

As an example, one of the issues that emerge from our need for identity is the problem of insecurity. Issues of insecurity can be revealed when we……

• Live our lives as people pleasers
• Talk without listening
• Find it hard to trust people
• Are bad losers and only feel satisfied when we win
• Confuse sex with the need to be loved
• Get burnt out because we need to be a high achiever
• Are critical of people because we don’t want to feel inferior to them
• Manipulate people in order to meet our own needs

A prime example of a person who struggled with insecurity was King Saul. Despite being chosen and anointed by God, and taller than anyone else in the land, he saw himself as small and insignificant. To compensate, he built a monument of himself in his own honour. On another occasion he told the prophet Samuel that he had sinned because he was afraid of the men and he gave into them. 1 Samuel 15:24.

To make matters worse, upon returning home from a battle, the women came out of the town to meet King Saul with singing and dancing. “As they danced, they sang, ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.’ Saul was very angry, the refrain displeased him greatly.” 1 Samuel 18:7-8
The result of all this was that the Lord regretted making Saul king. King Saul’s life is a sad example of the consequences that can happen to people who choose to find their acceptance in the validation of others rather than God. His insecurity ultimately led to his downfall as it will with us if we do not base our identity on God’s view of us.

The world around us – particularly the world of advertising, has agendas for us to live out regarding the issue of our identity. Next time you are watching advertisements on media, try and discern what agendas are in place to attempt to create a sense of insecurity and dissatisfaction within you.

The following are some of the “I AM NOTs” for you to be aware of when you are thinking about the issue of your identity.

1. I AM NOT WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF ME.
   If I was, I would spend my life being a people pleaser and doing what I can to base my need for security on getting people to value me. That’s not the way Jesus lived. He didn’t shape his life by what people thought about him. “He was despised and rejected by mankind. A man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom the people hid their faces. He was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
   Isaiah 53:2
2. I AM NOT WHAT MY BODY LOOKS LIKE.
   If I am conditioned to see my body as unacceptable because I can never achieve the features that the world I live in promotes, the advertising I am daily exposed to, the shop windows I walk past, then I will always feel like a work in progress to say the least. In my search for identity, I had a revelation when I realised I wasn’t a tall, bald person, but rather I was a person who lives in a tall body with a bald head. The prophet Isaiah also spoke of Jesus’ appearance, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract Him. Nothing in His appearance to desire Him.” Isaiah 53:2
3. I AM NOT MY ACHIEVEMENTS.
   If I determine my identity by comparing myself with others I will end up feeling superior If I am better than others, and inferior if I am worse than others. I grew up finding my identity in sports. I played 6 sports and was overly competitive in the way I played because I had to win to satisfy my need to feel significant. Other people find their identity in their business achievements, academic achievements, or even the size of their church.
   Jesus didn’t find His identity in His achievements. Rather, He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 His ministry consisted of training 12 men for 3 years and at the end of this, one rejected Him and another betrayed Him and had Him arrested. Jesus never placed His identity in His achievements.
4. I AM NOT MY IQ AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMNENT, MY TITLES AND QUALIFICATIONS.
   I am not a genius, and I am not dumb. I am not the size of my office or the title in front of my name and I don’t value myself by my place in the pecking order. I remember an insecure friend of mine who came to me one day to tell me that he had just resigned his job for the third time that year to take on another ‘bigger and better’ appointment as manager of a bigger company with a larger salary. As he sat in my office, he started to cry because he said it didn’t satisfy the deep needs of his heart. He repeatedly realised that the ladder he was climbing was leaning against the wrong wall.
   Jesus didn’t find His identity in His academic achievements and qualifications. When Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46
   Jesus spoke of Himself and titles people attributed to Him. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” Matthew 11:18
5. I AM NOT MY ACCUMULATED ASSETS.
   The deep needs of my identity are not met, nor do I feel better about myself, by buying a bigger house or car, or continuously renovating my bathroom or kitchen or accumulating extra properties. These things are not necessarily wrong of themselves, but they don’t meet the deep needs of our identity.
   I recently spoke at a memorial service for our armed forces and I was surprised afterwards when the city Mayor came up to me and emotionally told me that he was deeply stirred in his spirit when I prayed and spoke at the service. And I was prompted to speak to this leader of our community about how each of us have a God-shaped vacuum in us that can only be filled when we invite Jesus Christ to come into our lives as our Saviour and Lord.
   Jesus summarised His accumulated assets when one day He said to a man who wanted to follow Hil wherever He went, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” Luke 9:57-58

Just think of this – In all of the ways we are encouraged to find our identity in the world in which we live, Jesus didn’t qualify. Yet, He was the most secure and complete person who ever lived. The things of this world have a law that is called, the law of diminishing returns when we make them an end in themselves. One writer said, “The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate and it has let you down.”

Christian psychologist, Dr Lawrence Crabb, writing on the subject of our identity, said,
“I need to respect myself as a worthwhile person. Sometimes I don’t feel like a person at all. I need to feel whole. I must like myself, accept myself. In order to really accept myself, I must be a somebody. I can’t accept myself if I don’t matter to anyone or anything. I must be able to regard myself as important; I must matter somewhere. I must see myself as able to do something that is meaningful to someone. But even if I have that, It isn’t enough. If I really am to feel like a worthwhile person, I must be loved by another person, loved unconditionally, accepted just as I am without demand or pressure. If I am loved because I behaved well, I am under pressure to keep behaving well. If I don’t, I could lose love. I must be loved with an acceptance that I cannot lose no matter what I do.”

And both Christian and non-Christian Australian writers have continually wrestled with this question of identity. The great Australian historian, Manning Clarke who dismissed the possibility of any God because of the disasters (2 World Wars) in the 20^th century concluded, “We now say….that we are Australians, that we know no other country. But if anyone asks us who we are and what we want to be, we lapse into the great Australian silence. So now we have to decide what we want to be. This is the consequence of saying we are Australians. The difficulty is putting forward answers when we do not know what we believe.” He had no answers and concluded…. “How can people who are wallowing in the greed and titillation encouraged in the kingdom of nothingness answer such questions?”

Consequently, there is no answer to this issue of identity outside of a relationship with God.

A brilliant Australian Christian leader and speaker, John Smith, who founded the God Squad Christian Motorcycle Club, said regarding the issue of identity, “What’s the use of having a magnificent independent Australian spirit and a good gross national product if the very soul of our nation is gone? If there is no foundation for hope, how can you build morality, relationships or hope (or an identity) on a foundation that says we are really nothing but a meaningless gathering of atoms behind which there is no face of benevolence or love, no cosmic purpose, no ultimate meaning.”

And here is the big problem. If we leave God out of the picture, we are left with shakeable things on which to build our identities – things that ultimately can come crashing down. We have no solid foundation. That is why Jesus never built His identity on any man-made things, and neither should we.

Atheist Richard Dawkins wrote, “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

Consequently, is there an unshakeable foundation upon which we can build our need for identity – SECURITY and SIGNIFICANCE – and if there is, how do we find it?

I remember writing down 4 possibilities I had regarding my identity.

I AM THE PERSON…..

1. I THINK I AM – but I have blind spots and can have an inflated view of myself – so that didn’t satisfy.
2. OTHER PEOPLE THINK I AM – but that didn’t satisfy because people had to know all about me to be able to accurately describe who I am.
3. I WANT TO BE – but that didn’t satisfy because I might not ever attain to that goal.
4. I REALLY AM – and to understand that I need to know the truth and to know about myself and the God who created me.

Selwyn Hughes, the author of the EVERY DAY WITH JESUS publications, summarised the truth we can find in Jesus when he said, “How can people ever feel they truly belong in a universe when they do not have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. The simple answer is, they can’t. There is no way a person can belong and have a high sense of identity until they know and belong to the creator of the universe and His Son, Jesus Christ.”

In effect, he was saying that we cannot know WHO we are until we know WHOSE we are.
And gradually as I searched, I came to understand my deepest need is a need for identity and it is met in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As I told the mayor of one of our cities, ‘You were deeply stirred when I prayed and spoke about Jesus because we were created with a God-shaped vacuum which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ.’

The apostle Paul spoke to the Colossians about Jesus who can fill this inner vacuum that each of us have,
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. For through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.” Colossians 1:15-17

And Selwyn Hughes was right. “How can people ever feel they truly belong in a universe when they do not have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe.” For you cannot know WHO you are until you know WHOSE you are.

And Jesus became my model for understanding my identity. It was at the beginning of His ministry when He was baptised by John that a very significant event took place. As Jesus was baptised, it was a moment of IDENTITY for all to hear, for all to take in. “As soon as Jesus was baptised, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son whom I love, and with Him I am well pleased.’” Matthew 3:12

And it struck me that before Jesus had started His ministry, His Father spoke to Him about the two great needs we all have in order to find our identity.

Our first need for our identity is a need for SIGNIFICANCE.
Remember the words of Lawrence Crabb about the need for significance – “I need to respect myself as a worthwhile person. I must be a somebody. I must be able to regard myself as important.”
“….And a voice from heaven said, THIS IS MY SON”
This is what John said (1:12) when we receive Jesus as our Saviour – “To all who received (Jesus) to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become CHILDREN OF GOD.”
We are people of great value because we are children of God, born again into God’s family and no-one can be anymore important than that, and no-one can take it away. And there is more, not only are we children of God but we were created by God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

“For we are God’s masterpiece (a work of art) created in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 We are a masterpiece, a work of art and a child of God, gifted by God to do good works. We are significant because of WHO we are, not because of what we do. No one can make us inferior without our consent.

Remember, Jesus is our model. He found His significance in who he was – “You are My BELOVED SON.” We are highly valued because we are created by God – a masterpiece – and we are children of God, and we are gifted by the Holy Spirit with gifts to serve God.

I will never forget the letter I received from a lady who had met with me to discuss her concerns about her son. She wrote: “I came to see you about my son but some how you sensed I needed help. You helped me realise that I was worth loving and that God actually valued me. I came from our talk feeling that I had insulted God for thinking someone He created was worthless, and I was suddenly convinced God loved me as I am, and I wanted to shout it to everyone. It took the rest of the day to calm down. What a lovely feeling. I still have days of self-doubt, but when I am thinking clearly, I remember your words, ‘Do you think God would create junk?’ I often find myself laughing at these words. They stick in my mind and help me when I am down.”

Maybe you are like this lady, and you need to be reminded that God doesn’t make junk.

At Jesus’ baptism, His Father not only said a word of SIGNIFICANCE to Him. “This is My Son” but also a word of SECURITY, the other need that relates to our identity. “This is My Son WHOM I LOVE.”
Our need for Identity speaks of our need for SECURITY as well as SIGNIFICANCE.
Lawrence Crabb said, “If I am really to feel like a worthwhile person I must be loved unconditionally and accepted just as I am.” In all of the ways the world encourages us to find our identity, Jesus didn’t qualify, yet he was the most secure person who ever lived…..”This is MY SON WHOM I LOVE.”

And this is what God has done in Christ Jesus – We are secure because we are loved unconditionally and accepted just as we are. “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8

In other words, God saw us at our worst and loved us unconditionally and sacrificially by sending Jesus to die on the cross in our place. And He would have done it even if we were the only one who had sinned against Him.

Unlike any other person we know, the Bible tells us an amazing thing about God’s love for us in Romans 8:38-39. “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death, nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries for tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.” No human can love us like that. “His love is better than life.” Psalm 63:3

A great Methodist missionary to India, E. Stanley Jones, had a debilitating stroke that left him paralysed and speechless. Where did his identity come from? He said, “I need no outer props to hold me up, for my faith holds me. When the outer strands were cut by this stroke, my life didn’t shake.” He had built his identity on an unshakeable foundation. And when our need for security and significance is built on the unshakeable foundation of God’s word – in the words of the writer, J. R. R. Tolkien, “No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free and then you can say with deep conviction as the Psalmist said, “For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your words are wonderful.” Ps 139:13-14

God saw all of us at our worst, yet He loved us enough to send His Son Jesus Christ to die for us and more………… nothing can separate us from God’s love.
A PRAYER FOR YOU TO PRAY…….

Father God,
Thank you that my deepest need for identity is found in You.
Thank you that I am a person of great value for You created me for a purpose and adopted me into Your forever family in order that I might live out the purpose in the gift of life You have entrusted to me.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Thank You for loving me unconditionally by sending Your Son, Jesus Christ to die for me and thank You that nothing can separate me from Your love.
Please forgive me for seeking to find my need for identity in other things.
Fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit of love in order that my deepest needs might be forever found in  my relationship with You, and that for all of my days I might live my life to the praise of Your glory.