Identity Crisis
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| Photo by Jamie MacPherson on Unsplash |
Everyday that we walk this earth, we are in the middle of an identity crisis.
We are always looking for those things that define us.
"What is it about me that makes me, me?"
Quite often, we are looking for those things to boast about in our identity that make us better than other people. We aren't just trying to know ourselves better, but we are seeking to self-justify. We are trying to find our identity in things that make us feel okay.
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Consider these boasts that I used to have in my life before knowing Christ:
- I'm a better worker than others, I put so much effort into my job, I care more than those other people.
- I am smarter than those religious "morons," because I am clear-headed enough to realize that faith is stupid and there is no God. We should only live our lives based on facts. I get it, those idiots don't.
- I haven't gotten into as much trouble as other people because I make such smart decisions and other people don't.
- I'm on the right side of history because my politics are clearly correct and other people just don't get it.
- I do so much community service and that makes me a good person, how can other people not serve like I do?
You can see in those comments that I was boasting in many things. It is so easy to boast in how we work and to play the comparison game. I know how easy it is to boast in knowledge, especially when we think we know something that other people don't. There is a special tingle that comes from thinking we have "secret knowledge" or clear insight that other people don't have, and man is that easy to boast in. How easy is it to boast in our "goodness!" Or boasting in politics and ethics, thinking that we have it all figured out even if we haven't experienced what others have. Just think about how easy it is to judge others on social media!
These misplaced boastings are all an identity crisis, but they don't just happen to people who don't know Christ like my former self.
Consider these boasts that I have wrestled with while knowing Christ:
- I know more Scripture than other people. I read the Bible so much, do others?
- My theology is better than others. How could anybody read their Bible and not believe the same things I do about it? They clearly just don't get it.
- I work harder for the gospel than other people do. Look at all my good works and service!
- I care more about my faith than others do. Do other people even want to be sanctified?
- How could anyone not believe the gospel? It is so obvious.
- The way I do things is the gospel way, for sure. This is how to "do church." Other people who don't live this way must not even get it!
All of these boasts still center on a few things. Even while knowing Christ we see boasts like having secret knowledge, special wisdom, or special revelation. It is also so easy to boast in goodness, in good acts or behavior that seems to align with the gospel. Again, so much of this comes from playing the comparison game. We can boast in even doing "good things," because we lose sight of who we should actually be boasting in, which is Jesus.
There are two conclusions we can arrive at when examining the identity crisis of misplaced boasting:
1) All misplaced boasting is rooted in false pride.
2) Any boasting that isn't in Christ and his work on the cross is misplaced boasting.
The Apostle Paul dealt with these issues when writing a pastoral letter to his beloved church in Corinth. In Corinth, there was arguing over who the right teachers were to follow. This prideful jostling led to quarreling in the church. Here is how Paul reminded the Corinthians to remain humble and to remember their boasting and identity should only be found in the Lord:
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
Paul reminds the Corinthians, God is saving people through the preaching of the gospel, through "the word of the cross." He highlights that those who don't believe think that God dying as a man is folly. In our world today, many still think that Christians are foolish people - I know I did when I was a non-believer! Paul is saying that God set it up this way! God is pleased to save people through the "folly" of the gospel, through the preaching of the cross of Christ.
He also reminds the Corinthians that the way they are saved isn't by what they know, or who they follow, or any other identity markers: The way they are saved is through the cross of Christ.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The gospel is an astounding message! The eternally begotten Son of God, himself being fully God entered into his creation as a baby boy. He lived the perfectly sinless life, teaching us the grace and truth of God.
However, because God is holy and we are sinners there needed to be reconciliation, an atoning sacrifice had to be paid. Blood had to be shed, either ours or Christ's. So Christ, in our place, died a horrific death on the cross. Then, he rose from the dead and ascended to the kingly throne of heaven where he rules over all things. Paul is clear, Jews can't believe this message, and Gentiles think it is foolishness!
However, to those who are called, the word of the cross of Christ is the power and wisdom of God. Those who are called, Jews and Greeks, receive the word of the cross with great joy! These are the ones who believe in Jesus. They realize that God has the power to raise all people who call on the name of Jesus from the dead. They realize that it has always been God's plan to reveal the fullness of His glorious grace through Christ Jesus!
The gospel is so hard to believe because it seems too good, too unimaginable to be true but to those "foolish" enough to receive it, they receive with it the very power and wisdom of God!
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Paul calls the Corinthians to do one of the most important acts the faithful can do: REMEMBER!
Remember who you were before you were called to know Christ through the preaching of the cross. This is a pride killer! Whenever we remember who we were before we knew the Lord, we are humbled.
Remembering our need for a Savior who daily bears us up is one of the most critical acts of the Christian life. We have to be reminded of our desperate need for forgiveness from our sins, and redemption from living in them.
Paul reminds the Corinthians the beautiful message we all need to hear, God chose the foolish. God chose the weak. God chose the lowly and despised.
Who were you before Christ? Weak, lowly, despised, foolish. Paul says, "Never forget that!"
In view of the cross, boasting in anything else besides Christ is eliminated because the cross reminds us that nothing besides the blood of the Son of God himself could save us.
Skin color? Education? Good works? Knowledge? Birth nation? Beauty? Good looks? Good health? Accomplishments? What church you attend? Political party? Favorite preachers?
None of these things are big enough to house our identity because our identity can only found in Christ. Our only boast is in Christ and in his cross. Why?
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Because of God, you are in Christ Jesus. Nothing else but God's will and Christ's work can secure your eternal redemption.
Christ Jesus through the cross has become our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption.
We were wandering in the wilderness of sin, blinded, darkened, foolish in our thinking. We had no desire for God. We wanted nothing to do with God, we rejected God.
Yet God continued to pursue us, sending Jesus to die on a cross for our sake. And through the cross and believing the gospel, we receive Christ.
In Christ and on the basis of his work, we receive reconciliation with God, the relationship has been healed.
In Christ and on the basis of his work, we receive righteousness. We are seen as having the perfect record of Christ in God's eyes.
In Christ and on the basis of his work, we receive sanctification. We are made perfectly holy by receiving Christ's holiness, and are being made perfectly holy by the work of God the Holy Spirit.
In Christ and on the basis of his work, we receive redemption. We are brought near to God, adopted into his family forever, ransomed from our sins and from this present evil age.
Paul's argument to the Corinthians should help us to remember today that our only boast is in the cross of Christ. He reminds them of these things:
1) All misplaced boasting is rooted in false pride.
2) Any boasting that isn't in Christ is misplaced boasting.
Whenever we try to find our righteousness, our goodness, or our "okay-ness" in anything except Jesus, we are making room for false pride. Misplaced boasting leads to an identity crisis, and we have to remember, we needed the cross and the blood of the Son of God to redeem us. Nothing else can redeem us, nothing about us was able to bring us back to God. Therefore, we should only boast in the Lord, and in the fact that God loves us and gave Christ for us.
The gospel reminds us that we need to be brought low, we need to know our own insufficiency to save ourselves. The more mature we become as we know Jesus, the more and more we see the cross and Christ's perfect righteousness as our only hope.
When he shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in him be found,
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
What is it that makes me, me?
What is it that makes me okay?
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 ESV)
Try this boast with me, let's say it out loud!
God loved me enough to give up His Son for me! Jesus loved me enough to lay down his life for me! This is my boast today!
Have you put your faith in Christ's work on the cross?
Is Christ your only boast today?
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