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Now let's dive into this week's message. Amen.
Well, the issue of identity, which is where we're
at as a church right now in our sermon series.
True and better. Today we're going to look at
created, not constructed. And the issue of identity
will eventually come down to a single question.
Not what do I feel, or not what have I experienced,
but the real question beneath all of the questions
is, who has the right to define my life? Who
has the right to define my life? Someone gets
to name you. Someone gets to tell you what you
are here for. Someone gets to say what is good,
what is true, and what leads to flourishing.
And the modern world tells us, well, the answer
to that question is obvious. You do. You get
to tell yourself. who you are. You get to define
what you're here for. You get to decide what
is good, what is true, and what leads to flourishing.
The highest good in the modern world is self
-definition. Freedom means autonomy. To submit
my identity to anything outside myself is oppressive
or harmful or dangerous. But scripture tells
a very different story. The Bible does not treat
self -definition as a virtue. It treats it as
a temptation. From the very beginning, the central
conflict of the human story. has not been between
people and circumstances or even people in sin.
The central conflict of the human story has been
between the creator and the creature over who
gets to rule. Who gets to decide what a human
life is for? Who gets to define good and evil?
Who gets to say, this is who I am? I think the
truth we need this morning is this. To attempt
to create ourselves, to define our own identity
apart from God is not harmless. It is rebellion.
It's not merely cultural confusion. It is a rejection
of the creator's authority. And that's why self
-constructed identity is never neutral. It has
consequences. It leads somewhere. So if you have
your Bibles, we're going to be back in Genesis
chapter 1, and you can grab them and begin to
turn there. And if you're taking notes, the first
point I'll have you write down is creation establishes
ownership, not autonomy. Genesis chapter 1, we're
going to... grab it in verse 26. It says, then
God said, let us make man in our image, according
to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the
sea and the birds of the sky, the livestock,
the whole earth and the creatures that crawl
on the earth. So God created man in his own image.
He created him in the image of God. He created
them male and female. God blessed them and said
to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth
and subdue it. rule the fish of the sea, the
birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls
on earth. This is God's word. From the very first
page of scripture, the order is unmistakable.
God speaks, God creates, God defines. Human beings
don't appear on this earth as self -originating
creatures. We do not arrive as sovereigns. We
arrive as made, created. The most basic truth
about you is not something you discover later
in life. It is something that was true before
you ever drew your first breath. You were created.
And to be created is not simply to have an origin,
it is to have an owner as well. Creation establishes
authority. When God makes something, he does
not merely bring it into existence, he claims
it, he governs it, he sustains it by his good
pleasure. And this is why scripture never treats
human life as morally autonomous. We are not
self -authored beings who later on decide whether
God gets a say in our life or not. God has the
ultimate say because he made us. And being created
in the image of God does not mean we're free
to define ourselves however we please. It means
that we were made to represent him, to reflect
his character, to live within his order, to exercise
authority. under his authority. Image bearing
as humanity, image bearing is a delegated role,
not a declaration of independence. And this is
where modern assumptions collide with biblical
reality. We live in a world that assumes dignity
requires moral autonomy. That for life to be
meaningful, it must be self -directed and self
-defined. But scripture grounds human dignity
somewhere else entirely. Not in the self -directed,
self -defined moral autonomy our modern world
pushes. It grounds dignity somewhere else where
your value does not come from your independence.
It comes from your maker. And who he is is the
moral bedrock for your existence. Your worth
is not established by your freedom to choose
who you are. It is established by the fact that
God chose to make you. Genesis 2 says that God
formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. We are
dependent by design. Autonomy is not our nature
or our natural state. Dependence is. Which means
the idea that I belong to myself, that my life
is my own to define. It's not a biblical assumption.
It is a rebellion against reality. Not because
we agreed to it. Not because we consented to
it, but because he created us. Ownership precedes
choice. And if God is creator, then I do not
have ultimate authority over my identity. I don't
get to decide what I am apart from him. I don't
get to define good and evil for myself. I don't
get to rewrite the purpose of my life. Creation
means limits. God's authority is not an intrusion
into human freedom. It is the condition for true
human freedom. I'll say that again. God's authority
is not an intrusion into human freedom. It is
the condition for human freedom. When we live
within the boundaries said by our creator, life
works as it was intended. But when we reject
those boundaries, when we insist on defining
ourselves apart from God, we do not become more
human. We begin to unravel. And that leads me
to the second point, which is self -construction
is not neutral. It is rebellion. In Genesis chapter
three, we looked at that a couple of weeks ago.
We saw that the serpent came and said to the
woman, did God really say you can't eat from
any tree in the garden? And that question that
the serpent asked, that's not some sort of information
gathering survey, right? He's not from the Bureau
of the Census coming around and just getting
some information, right? Did God really say that?
Okay, I'll write that down, right? No, what that
is, is it's a question about authority. It's
a question about, does God really get to decide
that for you? And from that moment on, the conflict
is clear through scripture. The temptation is
not first about fruit. It is about who gets to
define reality. And the serpent, he doesn't begin
by saying, oh, God doesn't even exist. He doesn't
deny the existence of God. He begins by undermining
God's authority. You won't surely die. God's
a liar. God's not only a liar, he actually knows
something. There's like this sinister motive.
He knows that if you eat the fruit, your eyes
will be opened. You will be like God. You will
know good and evil. He's withholding something
from you that's good. To know good and evil is
not simply to be informed about morality. It's
not like, hey, I took an ethics class or a morality
class and I learned all the tenets of morality
and now I know them. That's not what it means
to know good and evil. What it means is to claim
the right to determine it. You will be like God,
claiming the right to determine what is good
and what is evil. In other words, I will decide
what is good for me. I will determine who I am.
I will define my life on my terms. This here,
Genesis 3, is the birth of self -creation. And
scripture doesn't shy away from it. It doesn't.
This moment here in the garden, this moment of
self -creation, it's not mere human curiosity
like Eve was there. What's this, right? I guess
I'll try it. Oopsie, right? I was thinking earlier
about, you know, you kind of go back and you
go like, how did we figure out that corn pops,
right? Or how did we figure, have you ever walked
through and you're like, how did we figure out
we can eat that berry, but we can't eat that
berry, right? If we eat that berry, we'll have
diarrhea for 10 days, right? And I was thinking
like, you know, walking through the forest, we
live up in the hills. And so we're walking through
the forest and looking at the different berries.
And I'm thinking, yeah, you're walking there,
you got your buddy, you know, Bob, and you got
your other buddy, Chad, right? And you're like,
come across a berry. And you're like, hey, I
wonder if we can eat this, right? And Chad's
like, yeah, well, hey, I'll give my body to science,
man. Like, let's see, man. He takes a couple
of berries and then Chad drops dead. And you're
like, oh, I guess we're not going to eat those
berries anymore. Sorry, Chad, thanks for figuring
that out for us. Humanity's better for it, right?
The Bible's not saying, hell, it was just mere
curiosity. It was the scientific mind trying
to figure out, what would actually happen if
I take that? Scripture doesn't say that, oh,
well, this was just a developmental phase in
human progress. We had to go through that so
we could get better and better and better, and
now we're just so beyond taking fruit from a
tree. In disobedience to God's command. That's
not what the scripture says about this. That's
not how it illuminates this. It shows us that
this moment here. What is laid out in Genesis
3. Is an insurrection. It is a rebellion. It
is making a choice that has consequences. That
goes somewhere. The creature reaching for the
authority of the creator. Self -definition is
not a modern problem. It is one as, a tale as
old as time, all right? The desire to define
myself apart from God is not a harmless exercise
of personal freedom. It is a refusal to live
as a creature. And this is where we need to face
the truth much. of what we call authenticity
today, is simply a repackaged version of the
same rebellion. I answer to no one. No one gets
to tell me who I am. My truth is sovereign. My
identity is mine to determine. The language feels
very empowering, doesn't it? But listen to what
Scripture says. Listen to how Scripture calls
it. It calls it something very, very different
in Romans chapter 1. Romans 1 says, for God's
wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness
and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness
suppress the truth. Since what can be known about
God is evident among them because God has shown
it to them. For his invisible attributes, that
is his eternal power and divine nature. His eternal
power, his divine nature, he's creator, he's
God, have been seen clearly since the creation
of the world being understood through what he
has made. And as a result, people are without
excuse. For though they knew God, they did not
glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead,
their thinking became worthless and their senseless
hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they
became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling created things, mortal
man, birds, four -legged animals, and reptiles.
Instead of the creature worshiping the creator,
acknowledging the creator, showing gratitude
and obedience, submission to the creator, it
begins to worship the created, the constructed.
And you notice the exchange. Creation gives way
to self -authoring and worship gives way to self
-rule and grateful submission gives way to personal
autonomy. This is not neutral ground. Every attempt
at self -constructed identity is making a theological
claim whether we realize it or not. It's saying,
I am the highest authority over my life. I will
define what is good and decide what I am here
for. And that is not freedom. It is the rejection
of God's rightful rule. And here's where we have
to be careful because this rebellion, this kind
of rebellion doesn't always look loud and defiant.
Sometimes it looks like thoughtful, sincere.
Sometimes it flows from deep wounds. And yet
scripture does not measure rebellion by tone.
It measures it by allegiance. Who do I ultimately
answer to? Who has the final word? One of my
downtime activities is I'll watch on YouTube
videos about, well, they're like pilot debriefs,
basically. Planes crash. And then someone goes
through and examines all of the events that lead
up to the plane crashing. And it's usually another
pilot. And he's like, you know, this guy did
this. And he should have done that. And he forgot
to do this. And he abandoned, you know, this
particular standard. And this led to that. And
then pretty soon it crashed. So they track this.
And so I think the actual channel is called Pilot
Debrief with Hoover. My friend Hoover. But on
those videos, he talks about, we spend a lot
of time together, me and Hoover. First name basis.
But on those videos, he'll oftentimes bring up
this idea of the death spiral of deviation. And
it's not unique to aircrafts or flying. But it's
something that's used in business. It's something
that you could use in your family. It's something
that you can use driving. It really is applicable
across the board. But the death spiral of deviation
is this. It's when minor, unchecked departures
from the established standard form in us new,
riskier normals. These new riskier normals, we
now live out of those new riskier normals, which
cause us to deviate even more from the established
standard. And it has a sort of spiral effect
where the deviation creates a riskier normal.
The new normal creates more deviation until you
eventually lead to complete systematic collapse.
So you might think in terms of piloting, it's
oftentimes, You're supposed to get enough rest
before you go flying. You're supposed to have
a certain amount of rest. And you're supposed
to perform certain checklists before you get
in the air. And you're supposed to look at the
weather where you're going. And you're supposed
to have a secondary place that you can land if
the first place is socked in with weather. And
then as you get closer, you're supposed to reevaluate
your descent plan. How are you coming in? What
runway are you on? What are the elevation heights?
All of these established standards for flying.
And the idea of the deviations file is if you
just don't get as much sleep the night before.
And then you're running behind and you're like,
ah, I guess I'll fly through this checklist really
quick. And I won't give it due time. And then,
you know what, we can figure out the weather
when we get there. And what this does is it causes
a person to get what Hoover calls, Hoover, he
calls getting behind the plane. Now the plane,
the plane's still flying. You're in the air.
It's going to do something, right? You're behind
the plane. You want to be in front of it, making
corrections so that if anything pops up, you
can adapt to it. But if you start to have these
deviations, and they also, with pilots, compound.
So you become more comfortable with deviating
in the future, and you deviate more and more
and more because it didn't result in a bad result
last time, so it must be okay, right? You might
think of this in another term, embezzlement.
Most embezzlement in a company does not happen
with someone walking in one day and stealing
$100 ,000, does it? Most embezzlement happens
when someone says, ah, I'm $10 short and they
gave me charge of the cash drawer and I'll just,
I'll take the $10 to get gas so I can get home
and I'll put it back tomorrow and no one will
notice. And then you come back tomorrow and you're
like, no one noticed. Maybe I won't put it back.
Maybe instead I'll take another $10 and then
I'll take $100 and then $1 ,000, $10 ,000. Pretty
soon, you know, you're in jail because you embezzled
$100 ,000 slow trickle from this company because
you deviated from a standard up front and you
got into the death spiral of deviation. Well,
when the self... takes the place of God's rightful
rule, when self -construction of our identity
takes the place of God's rightful authority,
the result is always the same. The result of
taking that for ourselves, that's a deviation.
It's not liberation, but it will lead to fracture.
It will lead to collapse. Systematic collapse
will happen in the human who is not designed
to deviate from that standard. Because the self
was never meant, was not designed to bear the
weight of godhood. And what begins as a quest
for control spirals out and ends in utter disorder
and chaos. Number three, the destructive fruit
of self -made identity. From the beginning, Scripture
shows us that self -constructed identity never
ends in freedom, but always in this fragmentation
of the human. Adam and Eve reach for the right
to define good and evil, and they gain shame
instead of wisdom. Exile from God's presence
instead of the autonomy, the free autonomy they
hoped for. But that's not where the Bible starts.
Actually, that's where the Bible starts. It starts
there from this experience, and then it begins
to spiral down. You really see, as you begin
to read Genesis and into Judges, all the way
to Judges, you see a death spiral of deviation.
Cain defined himself by wounded pride rather
than responding to God's correction. His identity
collapsed into violence. And restlessness wandering.
And then humanity comes along and they gather
together at Babel to make a name for ourselves.
And God says, that's not what I designed you
for. And so he brings confusion and scatters.
Later on, King Saul comes along. And he fails
to honor God in obedience. And yet at the same
time, failing to honor God in obedience, he still
clings to his own personal image. And he begs,
begs, begs, please come and honor me before the
elders of Israel. Please, at least do that so
that I can save face and be honored in their
minds. And we see from that point on, Saul's
soul unravel into jealousy, fear, and despair.
Later on, we hear about King Nebuchadnezzar.
King Nebuchadnezzar claims authorship over his
own greatness. Look what I have built. Look the
greatness of my kingdom. The Bible says that
God reduced him to less than human until he would
acknowledge the creator. The scripture never
exposes rebellion. without revealing its end.
And when we insist on defining ourselves apart
from God, the result is not wholeness, it is
not flourishing, it is always fracture. So we're
going to look at three sub -points under three.
What does that look like? The first one is self
-rule produces instability. See, if I am the
authority over my own identity, then I also have
to sustain it. I have to govern it. I have to
keep it going, which means that every change
of feeling becomes a constitutional crisis in
me. And don't you know this, friends? If you
base your identity on how you feel or from the
emotive state of our lives, we base it on that.
We found it on that. It's our foundation. Don't
you know this already about yourself? You feel
a lot of things, don't you? From a feeling standpoint,
you're not the same person every day, are you?
There's lots of yous. How do you know you chose
the right you to base your identity on? Maybe
you chose the wrong one. And how do you know
the you you chose right now is not going to fail
you later? You're going to start to doubt it.
You don't know that. You don't know if you chose
the right one. You don't know if you can sustain
the one that you did choose. Because self -rule,
with self -rule, identity becomes something that
I have to constantly defend, I have to constantly
update with the changing of my own feelings,
and I have to constantly explain who I am to
other people. And that makes the self fragile.
When circumstances change, when relationships
break down, when desires shift, when my performance
falters, identity. wobbles, shaken. The self
was never designed to be its own foundation.
What was meant to be received is now something
I have to maintain if I produce it myself. And
that is an impossible burden to bear. Self -rule
produces instability. Self -rule produces conflict.
when the self is sovereign, then disagreement
is no longer just disagreement. It becomes a
challenge to my identity. If my truth defines
who I am, then to question it is to question
me. And what that means is dialogue collapses
in relationship and it collapses into defensiveness.
Differences become threats. Correction becomes
oppressive. When everyone is their highest authority,
the only way conflicts are resolved is through
power, force. Whoever shouts the loudest, whoever
controls the narrative, whoever claims the greatest
harm or whoever has the most power, brute force.
Scripture shows us that when authority is severed
from God, it doesn't just disappear, it relocates.
But where it relocates, man, it always relocates
into something that's far less stable with far
less mercy. And finally, self -rule produces
exhaustion. You know why? Because the most telling
fruit of the self -made identity is constant
weariness. Because when I'm my own God, I don't
get to rest. I have to constantly interpret my
feelings to myself. I have to constantly validate
myself. I have to constantly protect myself,
justify myself, prop myself up. There is no Sabbath
for the sovereign self. And we are watching a
world collapse under the weight of pretending
to be gods. Anxiety, fragility, people are carrying
a weight that they were never meant to bear.
The self was not designed to sit on the throne.
And when the self does sit on the throne, everything
under it begins to crack. Scripture doesn't just
simply forbid self -rule. It actually warns against
it throughout. God's commands to us, God's laws
to us are not arbitrary restrictions. What they
are is the creator knows what the creature can
bear. The creator knows what the creature can
bear. The creator knows what the creature was
never meant to bear. And he drew loving boundaries
for us. The sovereign self, the creature was
never meant to bear. So what does God do with
the humanity that's refused his authority? Well,
interesting, the answer is redemption. If you're
taking notes, the final point is Christ claims
what we refuse to give. The gospel's answer is
not tolerance. The gospel's answer is not that
God softens his claim against rebellion. The
answer that God has to self -rule, to self -constructed
identity is revelation. How does God respond?
He responds to our rebellion. He responds to
our humanity's refusal of his authority. God
responds by revealing himself fully. When humanity
is darkened in their thinking and they can't
see God, what does God do? God turns up the light.
See, Jesus Christ is not merely God's messenger.
Jesus Christ is God's final word. Scripture tells
us that all things were created through him and
for him, which means that our rebellion against
God's authority is ultimately a rejection of
Christ himself. And now this side of the cross,
there is no ambiguity. God has spoken. In Jesus,
God has shown us exactly who he is, what he is
like, and what he requires. Listen to what John
chapter one, verse 18 says. No one has ever seen
God, but the one and only son who is himself
God and is at the father's side, he has revealed
him. Hebrews chapter one, verse three says, the
son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact
impression of his nature. There is no truer revelation
coming. There is no higher authority to appeal
to. There is no alternate path to life. Christ
is not one option among many. He is the standard
by which every life is judged. And so the stakes
are unmistakably clear. To reject Christ is not
merely to decline a religious preference. It
is to reject the perfect revelation of God. And
God will not tolerate rejection forever. The
cross stands as both mercy and judgment. At the
cross, Christ bears the cost of our rebellion,
but at the same cross, it also exposes our rebellion.
What Adam grasped for the authority, the self
-identifying authority to construct himself,
Christ submitted instead perfectly to the Father.
Where each one of us has said, my will be done,
Christ said, your will be done. And now the risen
Christ stands as Lord, not as a life coach, but
as king. Listen to what 1 Corinthians chapter
6 says. Beginning in verse 18. Flee sexual immorality.
And I'm yelling it because there's an exclamation
point here. Flee sexual immorality. Every other
sin a person commits is outside the body. But
the person who is sexually immoral sins against
his own body. Don't you know that your body is
a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God? You are not your own. You
were bought at a price, so glorify God with your
body. That's not a poem, friends. For us to go,
oh, that really works together there. I like
those rhymes. No, it is a declaration of ownership.
Christ has claimed what we refuse to give. He
has purchased rebels and offered them mercy.
But this mercy is not in definite indifference.
To persist in self -sovereignty after Christ
has been revealed is not ignorance. It is utter
defiance. It is giving the middle finger to God.
And defiance has an end. is no salvation apart
from Christ. There is no life outside of his
lordship. There is no hope in self -rule. To
reject Christ is to choose separation from the
source of life itself. The Bible tells us he
does not delight in condemnation. He delights
in rescue. But rescue requires surrender. Salvation
begins where self -sovereignty ends. The gospel
doesn't ask us to improve ourselves. The gospel
commands us to repent. To lay down the false
crown, to stop defining ourselves apart from
God, to come under the lordship of the one who
made us and redeemed us. Friends, the authority
we resist is the very authority that can save
us. And so the question before us is not abstract,
it's very personal. The question about identity
is not, who are you? The question about identity
is whose are you? Every human life will answer
that question of authority. You will belong to
someone. You will live under some rule. You will
be defined by something. The only question is
whether you will continue to claim that authority
for yourself or whether you will finally surrender
to Christ. Friends, repentance is not a feeling.
It's not regret. It's not self -reflection or
self -improvement. Repentance is the decision
to lay down self -rule and to live within the
boundaries your good God and Savior has provided.
It is the acknowledgement that I do not have
the right to define my life apart from God. I
don't even have the right. My attempts at self
-creation have not led to freedom. Have they
led to freedom yet, folks? Someone want to get
up here and testify how the tower you built in
Babel He's making a lot of dough. Lots of tourists
coming around. Thriving. This is life. Woo! Self
-creation doesn't lead to freedom. It leads to
fracture, disintegration, separation. The call
of the gospel is not a gentle suggestion. It
is a command. Repent and believe. Not because
God is harsh, but because time is short and truth
has been revealed. And believe me, you want to
relate to Christ now, I promise you. I promise
you. On the evidence of scripture, you want to
begin to relate to God properly through Christ
now. Because he is Savior and Lord. Christ has
come. Christ has lived in perfect obedience.
Christ has died for rebels like you and me. And
Christ has risen as Lord. There is no clearer
word coming down the pipe. There is no other
name given under heaven by which we must be saved.
To reject Christ now is to reject God's final
revelation. And so my exhortation is turn to
Christ. Turn to Christ. If you've been constructing,
the project has been going on, you've been trying
to build the thing, leave the project behind.
Cut your losses. Go to Christ. Turn to Christ.