HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / APRIL MAY JUNE / WHO ARE YOU? REALLY?

April May June 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2

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A R T I C L E S

 

I was adopted. As a result of several loving decisions, I became Richard Peifer. Much later, I found out who my birth mother was, but I never considered her to be my mom. Esther Peifer was my mom; Gene Peifer was my dad. Jerry and Bruce are my brothers. I always was and always will be a "Peifer" regardless of my DNA. I derived my identity from my family.

Such is the concept and importance of identity. Identity determines purpose. Purpose answers the question, "Why am I here?" Purpose determines our life's pursuits, answering the question, "Where am I going?" But how are we to answer the first question, "Who am I?"

I believe that a proper identity is defined in the context of God. As Paul put it in his prayer, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name…" (Eph. 3:14-15). I will demonstrate this by explaining human attempts to declare identity, the Bible's definition of identity, how to get a proper identity and the practical implications of that proper identity.

One of the tragedies of our society is that so many people grow up not knowing who they are, or, more precisely, whose they are. Untold numbers of lives have been ruined because of this.

When a person derives no identity from his or her family ties, or those ties have been broken or abused, he or she is left to define identity in whatever manner is at hand. We hear statements like these. "I am a surgeon." "I am a bus driver." "I am the mother of three children." "I am a middle-aged man." "I am poor." "I am married." "I am divorced." "I am bi-polar." "I am an alcoholic."

What is the common thread among all these statements? The use of the words "I am." Humans tend to use words reserved to God alone to identify ourselves. The futility of this is demonstrated by asking a few simple questions.

You're a surgeon. Who will you be when arthritis robs you of your hands?

You're a bus driver. Who will you be when cataracts ruin your eyes so you can't drive?

You're the mother of three children. Who will you be when they leave home?

You're married. Who will you be when your spouse dies or leaves?

Don't make the mistake of suggesting that these statements are merely colloquialisms. Don't presume we know better than to tie up our identities in the chimera of external things. If this is true, why are so many people depressed? Why do people party until they collapse in the attempt to dull the ache of emptiness consuming them?

An even bigger tragedy is that many people live, work and die without ever knowing their spiritual identity. This is especially bad when people attempt to resolve the situation by joining a religious organization, thinking that association with the larger group will give them meaning and purpose.

"I am a Baptist." "I am a Methodist." "I am a Catholic." "I am a Charismatic." "I am a Seventh-day Adventist." Notice the ongoing assertion—"I am."

What do these groups believe? What do they stand for? Most of their adherents can't answer these questions, but they don't really care. As long as they're associated with a group that speaks for God, they imagine they're safe.

Again, a simple question reveals the peril of holding such an identity.

You are a Seventh-day Adventist. Who will you be when key parts of the Adventist belief system are shown to be unbiblical and, therefore, incorrect?

According to the Bible, for humans there are only two possible identities. Both of them are based on permanent paradigms. Here's the first: "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen. 1:27, emphasis added).

Here's the second: "When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth" (Gen. 5:3, emphasis added).

Something meaningful changed between Chapters 1 and 5. Somehow humankind went from being created in God's image to losing that image and being born in Adam's image. Paul contrasts these two identities succinctly and very powerfully in Romans 5:12-21 (Read along in your own Bibles.).

I hope you find this table useful.

Clearly, Adam's list does not lead to a positive self-image. In fact, there is a very large part of me that wants to run up to Adam after this is all over, grab him by the lapel and scream, "What were you thinking?!"

There is a wrinkle in Paul's lists. He describes "in Adam" and "in Christ" quite differently than a collection of "I am" statements. All of the entries are results: the first of Adam's failure, the second of Jesus' victory. If a person is "in Adam" then all that flows from Adam accrues to that person. If a person is "in Christ" then all that flows from Jesus accrues to that person. In both cases, identity is derived from a person's relationship to one or the other of these paradigms. A person cannot be both "in Adam" and "in Christ."

Note the number of times the word "grace" or "gift" is used to describe what humans can have in Jesus. Just as something horrible happened between Genesis 1 and 5, something indescribably wonderful happened because of Jesus.

Paul explains how overwhelming God's plan for saving us really is. In every aspect of salvation God demonstrates that He is uniquely adequate to meet our need. Such is His power to change our identities!

Grace certainly existed in the Old Testament. Grace is the reason Adam and Eve were not destroyed outright when they sinned. Grace is the reason all families of the earth were blessed through Abraham even though he could not wait for God to fulfill His promise to him but did his own thing with disastrous results. Grace is the reason David was a man after God's own heart even though he sinned grievously by having Bathsheba's husband murdered after committing adultery with her.

But grace changed when Jesus died, was buried and rose again. Grace changed from a "what" (those things God did for His people as they walked by faith) to a "Who" (the indwelling life of Christ via the Holy Spirit).

Paul tells us why God did this for us in Romans 8:29 – "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren…" God's intent is to restore His image in us, and the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing that He will finish what He started (Eph. 1:13-14).

Another way to describe being in Adam is "child of Adam". The phrase the Bible uses to describe the result of receiving the Holy Spirit, of being in Christ, is "child of God" (see Rom. 8:16).

Based on Romans 5:12-21 it seems obvious that everyone would want to be a child of God instead of a child of Adam. This is true, but our presumptions create road blocks to understanding. Let's walk through the process as it is described in the Bible.

First, is being a child of Adam optional? No. "In Adam" is our DNA. For the longest time I believed that I was born neutral, that I was walking along the top rail of a fence and it was up to me to repudiate Adam and accept Jesus. I was wrong. Romans 3:23 cleared it up: "…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" All have sinned because all are children of Adam. This is what it means to be born in the image of Adam (Gen. 5). All are born spiritually dead. This is not a neutral position. All sin because all are sinners from birth (Ps. 51:5) and are "by nature children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). Jesus confirmed this fact in John 3:3: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Second, is becoming a child of God optional? Yes. As the writer of Hebrews told us, "Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it [God's rest], and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience [defined as unbelief at the end of Hebrews 3], He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today,' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts'" (Heb. 4:6-7). If someone hasn't entered God's rest, then that person has chosen not to become a child of God. Becoming a child of God is a matter of adoption, but adoption based upon our choice to accept Jesus (see Rom. 8:14-15).

So, humans are in a real jam. We're born spiritually dead and we don't automatically become spiritually alive. In short, we're born without the very Person necessary for identity. Is it any wonder that people without Jesus try to derive identity from everything but Jesus! Identifying oneself as a drug addict is better than having no identity at all. It may be a horrible identity, but it explains why I do what I do—it's who I am. In a way that only Satan could have devised, using identity this way actually excuses my sinfulness.

Please understand, I know there are physical-chemical issues that result from drug addiction, but at its core it is a spiritual problem, not a physical-chemical problem. Therefore, a drug addict can be set free by the Holy Spirit on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross where He provided for full and complete deliverance.

For those who have chosen a more positive identity (surgeon or minister, for example), the issue is the same even though the behaviors are more socially acceptable. "It's OK that I neglect my family or work myself into exhaustion because I'm helping people. In fact, I'm doing God's work. Right?" Wrong!

It doesn't matter what a person does while a child of Adam. He still is spiritually dead and condemned to hell.

How does a person become a child of God? Paul laid it out in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4—"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… (emphasis added)."

First, notice there are only three components of the gospel that saves: 1) the death of Jesus, 2) the burial of Jesus, and 3) the resurrection of Jesus. There is nothing else. Any attempt to add to these three components really makes it another gospel (Gal. 1:7). Paul's response to these extras is incredibly strong: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Gal. 1:8-9).

Jesus' death provided reconciliation (see 2 Cor. 3-5). His burial demonstrated that the past (in particular, sin) has been left behind (see Phil. 3:12-14 and Rom. 6:1-14). His resurrection provided eternal life now to anyone who would accept it (see Rom. 5:10; 6:19-23).

Accepting all that Jesus is and does results in being born again of the Holy Spirit. As we saw above, this is salvation, being made spiritually alive, and this salvation changes our identity from child of Adam to child of God. As Paul explains in Romans 8, anyone who has the Spirit is a child of God; anyone who does not have the Spirit does not belong to Christ. Christ's death, in other words, cuts the believer off from the family line of Adam, and His resurrection makes it possible for him to be born again into the family of God by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 6:1-4; 1 Pet. 1:3-5).

As other articles in this issue of Proclamation! explain, getting this correct is a matter of life and death. The SDA belief system ruins the "gospel that saves" right at the first point. Their positions regarding blood and the scapegoat completely deny the very thing Jesus accomplished on the cross. Their additions to the gospel—10 commandments, seventh-day Sabbath as a test of faith, 1844, the Investigative Judgment, etc.—ruin the rest of it. In short, it is very difficult for a practicing Adventist to have a proper self-image.

What are the practical ramifications of being a born-again child of God?

1. You will understand salvation. I invite you to sit down with your Bible and a concordance. Look up words like forgiveness, eternal life, the indwelling Holy Spirit, justification and sanctification. Read about them in context. Don't take my or your church's word for it. Study it for yourself. If you've never done this before, your life will be changed forever.

2. The Holy Spirit will renew your mind according to Romans 12:1-2, and you will prove what God's will is. This is where honesty comes into play. Rather than excusing sin by hiding it behind a false identity (alcoholic, divorcee, Seventh-day Adventist, anorexic, professional golfer, business man …), you will begin to admit the sin that so easily entangles you. Because of the gospel you are a forgiven person, so admitting sin for what it is will not result in your being rejected by God. Instead, you will be gathered into His arms and supported while the Holy Spirit completes the work He started in you (Phil. 1:6). Only this kind of honesty permits this kind of growth in Jesus!

3. You will continue to battle with the flesh, or indwelling sin. Remember, even though you have eternal life as a result of being born again of the Spirit, God has not, and will not, redeem your flesh. Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). Satan constantly tries to get us to stop looking to Jesus for identity, focusing instead on our behaviors, weaknesses, strengths and memberships.

4. In spite of this battle, you no longer need to give in to the desires of the flesh. Study Galatians 5:16-26. Here is the key to moving beyond your old identity. The only way to gain real victory over sin is to walk by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Nothing you do in your own strength will accomplish anything. It is all of Jesus and none of you. By His death Jesus won total victory on your behalf, and when you die to sin by placing your faith in Jesus Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit who will give you His power to resist sin. Even though you still live in mortal flesh, sin no longer reigns over you (see Rom. 6). Jesus' death—not his sinless life—has set you free.

If you are stuck in a false identity, there is hope.

If you know you still are a child of Adam, admit it and come to Jesus for forgiveness and life! If you know you are a child of God, but still suffer from various false identities, admit them and allow the Holy Spirit to continue renewing your mind.

You can be a child of God even if you no longer can perform surgery, no longer have a spouse or no longer have children living in your home.

Knowing that you are a child of God is the only way to overcome addictions. You stop giving yourself permission to practice the deadly behaviors ("That's what drug addicts do."). Instead, admit them for the sin they are, accept the forgiveness Jesus provided at the cross, accept His eternal life, and then allow that life to overflow into the lives of others.

You can be a child of God who attends any church or no church at all. You are neither saved nor lost by belonging to an Adventist church, but judge carefully whether you have substituted membership in that church, or any other church, for a living, vital relationship with Jesus Christ. It is important for many readers of this magazine to remember that you are not a "former Adventist." You are a child of God who once attended an Adventist church.

The choice is clear: Remain "in Adam," a slave to your sin-DNA, or be adopted by God so that you are "in Christ." He will give you a new identity, child of God, and He will work everything He is into everything you are so that His image is recreated in you. †

 

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard BibleÆ, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission (www.Lockman.org).

 

 

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Richard Peifer serves as associate pastor, music director, co-host of the radio program, and technology director at People to People Ministries in Carrollton, TX, a suburb of Dallas. He and his wife, Lois, attend Metro Bible Fellowship, the local church outreach of People to People.

You can learn more about both ministries at realanswers.net and metrobiblefellowship.org.

You may send e-mail to richard.peifer@realanswers.net.