Play video after worship, before message...
Who are you?
There's this saying these days, and I'm sure you've heard it, that goes "we are simply the product of our experiences." But is this true?
I worked at Miracle Ranch for the first time last summer, as you all know. When working at camp you meet kids from all different walks of life; some have had rather trying lives, but others may have gotten everything they've every dreamt of. It's crazy. You begin to wonder how they can possibly connect with one another and worship together. We begin to think that our job is to get the campers' riled up and driven to celebrate and live for God. But what we sometimes forget is that, how can you live for God if you don't know how to live because of God.
As Christians we walk through life trying to make the best choices in the name of God, but what we often forget is that the gospel tells us that the choices we make don't make us who we are, what Jesus did makes us who we are. Now, here I should probably specify that I'm not trying to undermine the consequences of our actions because the choices we make do determine where we end up, but it is very important to remember that where we end up does NOT determine who you are. And that connects us all, doesn't it? Campers, people who work 9-5 jobs, prisoners, it doesn't matter who you think you are because who you are isn't determined by your life, who you are is determined by the life that Jesus led, the life that Jesus gave up to give you yours back. Isn't that freeing? If you're good, there's more to you than your success, if you're bad, you're more than your failures. You are more than the choices that you make, you are more than the mistakes you've made, you're even more than the rights you have accomplished; you are the sum of our heavenly Fathers love for us.
This is a short coming of almost everyone I know, Christians and non-believers alike, we all believe that who we are is equivalent to the sum of our successes and failures. We are deluded. Honestly, who are we to think that we have any sort of control over who we are if we have someone as great as God watching over us. We aren't who we are because of our choices because our falls and mistakes pale in comparison to the sacrifice Jesus made upon that cross.
Have you heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son? Well, the Parable of the Prodigal son is about a father and his two children and their relationship when one leaves for a life of debauchery. Let me read it to you...
The Parable of the Prodigal (Lost) Son
"11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
No matter how much the son disrespected the father and no matter how much he sinned while using the money given to him by the father, the fathers love for his son could not be dampened. Do you see the moral here? Gods' love for us is just as the fathers love for his son. Every day we go into the world with what God has given us and we sin against Him, but He loves us the same. God knows that we aren't the measure of our sins, we are who He made us to be in His infinite wisdom. When you come back to Him with an apology in your heart He runs to you and embraces you in an embrace that washes us clean of every sin. And it's all because He knows that YOU ARE MORE.
Read letter aloud...
Our Father loves us more than we can possibly understand because He knows that deep down, despite how we sin against Him with the tools that He Himself sculpted from nothing, we are more than that. We are more, you are more than the weight of your sin. You are the measure of Gods love, of Jesus' sacrifice upon the cross.
Tonight if you want to accept your Fathers undying love for you and return His warm embrace, you need only pray. I want to spread out for about 5 minutes and give you time to think. You can either sit and pray to yourself or just sit quietly and think. There are prayer partners around the room that would be more than willing to sit and pray with/for you if you so choose, including myself. Please try your best to sit away from someone and resist the urge to talk, just dwell on what God is saying to you in His letter. Go.*
Optional ending song:
*Last paragraph is the conclusion to the Lakebay Community Church Youth Group delivery of this message.
**To alleviate any confusion, speaker directions are included.
Interesting thoughts here. We cannot change who we are in Christ. God sees us through the cross. Jesus' righteousness has been imputed to us. When God looks at us, he sees pure white lambs. We are children of God and that will never change.
ReplyDeleteI think it is biblical though, that our trials and failures and other life experiences shape who we are. God uses those things be mold us more into His likeness. I agree that we are not defined by what we do. Love your blog.