by Phil Ware
Who are you?
Please, don’t tell me what you do or where you live. Please, don’t tell
me where you are from. Please, I’m not looking for your mobile number,
your twitter id, your Facebook feed, your blog address or your IM
handle. Strip away the surface junk and let’s get down to the truth.
Who are you?
That’s the real issue behind Jesus’ question to the man afflicted with
evil spirits: “What is your name?” (Mark 5:9). The power of evil had so
captured the man that he could not answer and give his own name. He had
lost his identity to the powers of destruction at work in his life. “My
name is legion … for we are many” was the answer given to Jesus’
question.
Who are you?
It’s a crucial question. How we define ourselves matters intensely in
how we live our lives and live out our faith. Don’t believe it? Take
Legion’s word on it. He had lost his identity and lived out his life in
the most marginal and self-destructive of circumstances — living in
burial caves, shrieking, cutting and beating himself, uncontrollably
wild, isolated, feared, and alone (Mark 5:1-5).
Who are you?
But if Legion isn’t enough, look at the way the Lord’s own temptations
are couched, “If you are the Son of God …” (Luke 4:1-13). The devil
dangles the question of Jesus’ identity before Him trying to get him to
prove who He is — to himself, to others, and to the devil. If you are
not sure of your identity, it doesn’t take a lot to get you to try to
prove your significance through selfishness, shortcuts, and showing
off. The devil is not only in the details, but the devil is also in our
need to prove ourselves.
Who are you?
It’s the question of questions. That’s why when we see the flow of
grace outlined in Scripture, we see who we were without Christ (Ephesians
2:1-3 — we are saved “from” death by grace), we see how precious we
are to God (Ephesians 2:4-10 — gifted with God’s riches by grace and
re-made as God’s glorious handiwork), and we see what our mission is in
Christ (Ephesians 2:10 — created in Christ Jesus to do good works).
The biggest chunk of this grace equation? Our identity: we are bought
by God’s love, made alive by God’s graciousness, blessed by heaven’s
glorious riches, and re-created in Christ to be God’s incredible
masterpiece of divine craftsmanship.
Who are you?
Our hearts are drawn to the tunes of grace and its power to give us
back our real identity. We are moved by the story of the man liberated
from the legion of demons, remade by Christ, now seated in his right
mind and given a mission to do for Jesus (Mark 5:15; Mark 5:19). We are
drawn to it in the story of “Beauty and the Beast” as Belle’s heart is
won by the “Beast” and his sacrifice for her — and as her kiss brings
him back to life, not just physically, but in every way. We are
fascinated by it as the prince kisses sleeping beauty alive again, as
the ugly duckling is transformed into the beautiful swan it has been
all along, and as the slipper slides on Cinderella’s dainty foot to
show who she truly is.
Who are you?
God said it to His Son:
“You are my Son, who I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22
TNIV).
Paul says it to us powerfully:
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds
because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by
Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his
sight, without blemish and free from accusation … (Colossians
1:21-22 — emphasis added).
So who are you?
It’s the only question that matters. It’s the motivation for our
behavior and the power to our passions. We don’t do what we do to get
grace, to be approved by God, or to win heaven. Jesus died to make us
back into the real us: the us God made in the womb of our mother to be
— God’s masterpiece, His prince or princess, His beloved. The devil
will do all he can to make us question it, doubt it, and work to prove
it. Yet Jesus’ sacrifice, the Cross and the Empty Tomb, stand and shout
it to us. “You are My Father’s Masterpiece! You, dear brother, are
God’s Prince! You, dear sister, are God’s Princess! You are the beloved
of the holy and awesome God Almighty.
So who are you?
I was going to say that I am nothing without God and Saved by the Grace of His Son, Jesus. But you already said that into the writing when I read down that far into the essay.
But that doesn’t change the fact, that I am nothing without God and His saving Grace. My salvation, has already been paid for, in full by the Son of God. I still still, sin, but try not to, but still do. So that makes me a saved sinner. Again only through the works of Jesus and His Supreme Sacrifice on the Cross and His rising again, to be back with His Father and our Father in Heaven.
Without his payment, I am nothing more that dirt. But through him, I am adopted into the kingdom of
Christ. So that makes me a child of God. That sums it up for me.
I am still reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.
This book is sometimes confusing even when it backs up claims with scripture. Pg.83-84. Quote”As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron: there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are “lukewarm” are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.” The he backs it up w/ Revelation 3:15-18.
On page 87. Quote:” Some people claim that we can be Chrisitans without necessarily becoming disciples. I wonder, then, why the last thing Jesus told us was to go into the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that He commanded? You’ll notice that He didn’t add,”But hey, if that’s too much to ask, tell them no just become Christians-you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything.”
Then in the next chapter on page 87. “I do not want true believers to doubt their salvation as they read this book. In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus. His grace covers us.” UNQuoted”
I read John 3:16, ” For God So Loved the World, That He Gave His Only Begotten Son, That Whosoever Believeth in Him shall Not Perish but Have Everlasting Life.”
I don’t think we are all called to be disciples, in just one meaning of the word. There must be other meanings. We all can’t not work at a job and make a “living” to live in this world. We all cannot be missionaries, traveling to other countries. We all cannot be ministers, etc. This makes it confusing and the Bible even says Salvation is so simple a child can understand it. When Jesus gives a Gift, (Salvation) being the gift, a gift is not suppose to have strings attatched to it or it’s not truly a gift. We are saved through Grace. So if we don’t become a disciple, are we all going to Hell? I don’t think so, but please explain this concept. Billy Graham always made his sermons simple and straight forward, always using John 3:16, He has lived a life for God. Maybe being a disciple can also mean, using your talents, God-Given, of course, and use it for the good of our fellow man, and always do it for the glory of God. Some of us might do it silently and not announce everything we do for someone. Its beween God and that person. And God is the only one who knows. If we have the Holy Spirit abiding in us, as Jesus left w/ us and said we would, isn’t that a good indication we are saved?
Help, humans are confusing and its all complicated. No wonder people who do not know the gospel stay away from it. People, even in the minstry, make it sound like we can never do enough. I know we work on our salvation until the day we die. By falling down, standing back up, brushing ourselves off, and try not to look back and live for God.
Please explain!