Elevate - Authentic Identity

The main ideas from this information are: - The importance of authenticity in today's world - The need for authenticity in the church - The concept of biblically authentic discipleship, which involves denying oneself and following Jesus - The idea of authentic identity, becoming the true version of ourselves that God has planned for us - The paradoxical nature of following Jesus, where losing our lives leads to finding true life in Christ. You identify with Christ first and foremost, and the Christian identity will drive who you are. Once your identity is in Christ, He'll shape you to become your authentic self. And listen, see what we try to do is when we identify in our flesh first, then we try to fit Christ into that. But if we identify with Christ first, everything else, if it don't fit, He won't let it in. Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message and welcome to Elevate. I want to talk to you today about authenticity. We're not in the middle of a sermon series right now. I'm just giving you a message that I feel that the Lord has placed on my heart for today. And I want to talk about authenticity, because I think authenticity is an important concept, especially in our world today, because we live in a world of fake news and scammers and Hollywood. People are looking for the real thing. You know, I am trying to sell a vehicle right now, and I've got it out on Facebook Marketplace. And I get people that are interested in buying this vehicle. And you know what? Of all the people that have shown interest in my vehicle, every one of them has been a scammer. They've all been scammers. It's frustrating. We just want real. That's what we want. We want to have the real thing. And unfortunately, much of today's generation, this generation that is coming up right now, they don't find a lot of something real in the church. At least that's what they're telling us. That's what they're saying. And this generation that is coming up right now is more informed. They have more worldly influences and are more skeptical than any other previous generation. They want and they need authenticity. And so it falls on us, as disciples of Jesus, to make sure that we are truly authentic. The word authentic means this. Real. Genuine. Not counterfeit. That's an important definition. Because in other words, what we're saying, if you are authentic, is that you are the real deal. That you are who you say you are. That you do what you say you'll do. If you're saying you're following somebody, that you are following them according to the way that they have prescribed that you follow them. Amen? And not only is authenticity what our generation needs, but it's something that we ought to always be striving for. To be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. To be real. To be genuine. Not counterfeit. And so there's two areas of authenticity that I want to talk with you about today. And the first is just biblically authentic discipleship. Biblically authentic discipleship. And when I say that, I mean what does an authentic follower of Christ look like according to the Bible? Right? Not according to what the latest church trends are telling us. Not according to the latest best-selling New York Times best-selling Christian book. But what does the Bible say is what an authentic follower of Jesus Christ looks like? Biblically authentic discipleship. But the other aspect that I want to talk about when dealing with authenticity is this idea of authentic identity. Truly embodying God's plan and purpose for our lives. The real us. Being the real us. See, the real us is not the life that we've created for ourselves. The real us is what God has envisioned and called for us to be from the foundations of the earth. That's the true and the real and the authentic version of ourselves that we ought to be striving for. And so let's look to the word. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 24, tells us this. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Father, I thank you, Lord, for your word. I thank you that you've given us a prescription in these words right here about what it means to be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Lord, open our ears and open our hearts today to receive what you have, not as my words, Lord God, but as your words. Your truth, Lord, and let it transform and change us today in the name of Jesus. So we're starting with biblically authentic discipleship. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ according to the Bible? Now, in the verse that we just read out of his mouth, out of Jesus's own mouth, he said, whoever wants to be my disciple, dot, dot, dot. You don't get more authentic than that. The master has spoken. If you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me, here's how you do it. And everything that follows those words in whoever wants to be my disciple, everything that follows those words is Jesus's authentic definition of discipleship. And so he says here that an authentic disciple is marked by a willingness to deny themselves in order to follow Jesus. That means that if you choose to follow Christ, it's not about you anymore. It's not about me anymore. It's not about your wants, your needs, your desires. It's not about how fat your wallet is. It's not about what kind of car you drive. It's not about your career. It's not about you at all. It is about him. And becoming like him. But he also says in this verse, he says, yes, they must deny themselves, but they also have to take up their cross and follow him. Now, a Jewish person living under Roman rule at the time that Jesus said these words understood this. They understood that to take up your cross meant that you carried a cross when you were sentenced to be crucified. The very cross they would crucify a criminal on was the very cross that you had to carry all through the streets and all the way up to the hill where they were going to hang you on that cross to take up your cross means to be ready and willing to die. Preaching now, Pastor John, because a condemned person that is on their way to the electric chair or to the injection chamber or to the cross, they no longer have hopes and dreams for the future. No goals, no plans. All that lies ahead of them is death. But in Christ, it doesn't just end there. OK, so I'm not trying to get you down. I'm just setting the stage so I can build you up. All right. Galatians 2 verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So you see, it's not a hopeless death that we face. It's not the end of life as we know it. We don't stay dead. We take up Christ's life in us. And so all the dreams and the goals and the plans and the hopes for our future that a dead man no longer has, they are replaced with his dreams and his plans for our future. We're trading in one for the other. I'm dead. Everything about me is dead. All that I want, all my flesh, all my desires, all my dreams, all my ideals, that's all dead. And now I take on yours, Jesus. What you got for me? What you got for me, Jesus? Come on, let's do this, Jesus. I'm dead. Now you live in me and let's do this. Authentic, dead to me, alive in Christ. And then he says, pick up that cross and follow me. As we follow him, right, we begin to grow in our relationship with him. We learn more and more about him and who he is and who he is in us. We seek him. We seek his will. We seek what he wants for our lives and we begin to emulate him. We begin to become like Jesus as we follow him. Biblically authentic discipleship means die and be raised to life in Christ. To follow the authentic version of who God has called you to be. Which brings us to authentic identity. We have authentically authentic, biblically authentic discipleship. But then we have authentic identity. Verse 25, what we just read, he says, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life, for me, will find it. He says, you save your life when you lose it. I love how Jesus always, he always speaks these like oxymorons. These opposing things like, you know, if your way up is to go down. Like, what does that even mean? If you want to be exalted, if you want to be lifted up, then humble yourself. Right? If you want me to bless you, if you want more, if you want the blessing of God, be willing to give. That doesn't make any sense, right? But it does in the kingdom. And he says here, if you want to save your life, you're going to have to lose it. So what does that mean, to save your life? It means to become who God has called us to be. To become the real, authentic version. Raised up with Christ to eternal life and then becoming our real selves. Not a fake version of ourselves, not a fleshly version of ourselves, but the real, authentic self that God has planned for us. But what we often do is we hold on to our lives. And we say, Jesus, come and be a part of my life. We've even led people to pray that prayer. Why don't you ask Jesus to come be part of your life? Ask Jesus to come into your life. Those are well-meaning things. But did you ever buy a new car? You know, cars come with certain stock features on them, right? There's some premium features that you can add to those things. And they call those things add-ons. Right? And so you can... The car is great. It's a great car without those things. But the add-ons really enhance your experience. Like you have a stereo, but you could get the premium sound system. Right? You could have good heat and good AC, but man, it would be great to get that heated steering wheel and those heated seats and those cooled seats. Right? It enhances your experience. It enhances an already good experience. And I think many people treat Jesus as an add-on. Like, my life is good the way it is. I just need something to enhance the experience a little bit. You see, that's not authentic discipleship. That's not authentic identity. Identifying in Christ. Jesus is not an add-on feature to your life. Jesus can't just be a part of your life. He is your life. As you die, He takes over. It's Him living and breathing and moving and having His being in you and through you. That's authentic discipleship. And when we let go, we now have the opportunity to take on all of God's purposes, all of God's plans and destiny for our lives. That's authentic. Authentically who God has called you and made you to be. Your true, your real, authentic self. Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 10 says this, I want to know Christ. This is Paul speaking. I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I mean, that's everything right there. Participating in Christ's sufferings, becoming like Him in death and coming alive, being resurrected in Him and then laying hold of that for which He laid hold of me. Why did He save me? Why did He create me? Why did He make me? Why did He lead my life to this place where I made a decision to follow Him? What was the purpose for that? What's the reason I've been placed on this earth? I want to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me. Becoming an authentic self. You know, many people live saved, but not authentically who God made them to be. Many live saved, but not authentically following Christ's example in life. We need a new identity. You know, our world is messed up in the area of identity right now. This world is teaching our children that they can identify as whatever they want to be. A boy can identify as a girl and vice versa. Adults can identify as babies. I've seen it. Kids can identify as animals and have to be given special treatment in the classroom. Like, here's your litter box and your food because you wear cat ears because you identify that way. Identity is under attack. That's what the enemy is doing right now, trying to steal our identity, our authentic identity. It's spiritual identity theft. It's what's happening in our world. And as soon as we identify with our flesh, we begin playing a dangerous game. I'm a Pentecostal Christian. I'm a feminist Christian. I'm a Republican Christian. I'm a black Christian. I'm a white Christian. I'm a democratic Christian. I'm a baptist Christian. When we do this, we get our identity wrong. You have to identify with Christ first. Before I'm black, before I'm white, before I'm Republican or Democrat, before I'm a feminist, before I'm Baptist or Assemblies of God, Pentecostal, Church of God, Presbyterian, the first thing I have to identify with is Christ. That's it. And then we can say, I'm a Christian with conservative political ideals. I'm a Christian with Baptist theological leanings. I'm a Christian who fights for equal treatment of all people. But you identify with Christ first and foremost. And the Christian identity will drive who you are. Once your identity is in Christ, He'll shape you to become your authentic self. And listen, see what we try to do is when we identify in our flesh first, then we try to fit Christ into that. But if we identify with Christ first, everything else, if it don't fit, He won't let it in. Then we won't have those questions about, can you be Christian and a homosexual? Well, there's no such thing as a homosexual Christian. You're either a Christian or you're not. Don't identify with that first. Identify with Christ first. And if it don't fit, it doesn't get in. I'm sorry. Identify in Christ. Let go of yourself. Take on his desires and his plans. Everything else will work out. He'll tell you what fits. But we cannot try to fit Jesus into our predefined life. Because he won't fit into it. He'll only ever be an add-on. Let's go back to that verse in Philippians we just read. Going back to verse 12. Not that I've already obtained all this, or I've already arrived at my goal, but I've prepped on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. The authentic disciple turns from who they were in the flesh, identifying as that, and strains toward what lies ahead. It is a shift in identity. If you go back and you read about when Elijah called Elisha to follow him and to be his successor. Elisha was a farmer when he was called. And in fact, when Elijah found him, Elisha was on his oxen and he was running a plow through a field. And Elijah came up to him and called him and Elijah was like, alright, yes, I'll go. And so what he did was he burned all of his yokes and he slaughtered all of his oxen and he cooked up the meat and he held a party in the town to say, this is my new identity. He burned it all and let it go. Peter left his life as a fisherman when Jesus called him to become a fisher of men. He changed his identity. Paul rejected all of the pomp and all of the benefits of being a highly trained rabbi. He could have had wealth. He could have had status. He could have had power. Instead, Paul subjected himself to a different life. Sometimes he was beaten. Sometimes he was in prison. Sometimes he was tortured. All as he pressed into the calling as a follower of Jesus Christ. He changed his identity. And it says here that we strain, straining ahead, right? It's this Greek word, epiktenomahi. Everybody say epiktenomahi. Alright, once again with feeling. And it means this. It means to extend. It means to stretch forward. Listen, there has to be a stretching forward into the things of God. Letting go of what is behind and stretching forward into what God has for us. Because we cannot stand in the middle trying to hold on to both because we won't go anywhere. This one's pulling us back. We're reaching to see what will pull us forward and we'll never get anywhere. It's like playing tug of war. You stay still. You can't apprehend either thing. You can't apprehend who you were. You can't apprehend who you can become. It doesn't work. Most eventually give up that double-minded way of life and fall back to what they were. They get tired of the fight. Or they just stay still and they make no mark or impact in the kingdom and never truly live as their authentic self, never realizing the fullness of what they were called to be. That's why Jesus said, if you try to save your life, you're just going to lose it. It's going to be a pointless life that you live. Only in letting go and losing that part of who you are will be able to apprehend the abundant life that Christ has for you. That's authentic. Facing forward. Reaching forward. Walking forward. My eyes on Christ. My eyes on the prize. My focus right here. Never going here. Never going there. Certainly not going back there. But just reaching and pressing forward in Christ. Taking up your cross daily. Continually letting go of the old self. The sin. The way of thinking. The attitudes. The behaviors. And at every turn taking on the nature of Christ Jesus. Now I want you to see what God does when He moves someone into their authentic self. There's a man in the Bible by the name of Abram. And God spoke to Abram. Revealed Himself to Abram. Called him to go to another country. God gave him the promise that he will have a son even though he was like 75 years old. He gave him the promise that he'll have a son and that his descendants would be innumerable. As many as the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. And so Abraham obeys and begins walking toward God's plan. Begins straining forward into what God had called him to do. And look at this in Genesis 17 beginning in verse 3. Abram fell face down. And God said to him, As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram. Your name will be Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you. And kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. To be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan where you now reside as a foreigner. I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you. And I will be their God. See what God does here. He does an identity shift with Abram. He changes his name. He says Abram means exalted father. But Abraham means father of a multitude. It's an identity shift. Sarai. His wife Sarai. Her name was changed as well. Sarai means princess. Sarah means royal princess. It was an identity shift. You see Abraham's new name emphasized the number of descendants that would come from him. Sarah's new name emphasized the royal nature of their line. That kings, royal princess, kings would come from them. That Jesus, the king of kings, would come through that line. When God gave the promise and as Abram and Sarai stepped in obedience He did more than just give them a task. He changed their identity. They were embracing authentically what God had called them to be and why he had put them on this earth. And he signified it by changing their name to reflect who they really are. Who they are authentically. By being called Abraham, God was saying Okay, you're not just a father. You're the one I've chosen to be the father of innumerable descendants. The very ones to whom I'll send my son. His identity changed. And he was no longer just Abram. Just this guy living in Ur. That's where he came from. Ur. He wasn't just that guy taking over the family business. Not that he didn't have a good life. It was a good life. He had everything he could have wanted. But that was not God's ultimate blueprint for Abram. Abram had to walk into his destiny and become his true, authentic self. And at that point, God changed his name. Gave him a new identity to truly reflect Abraham's willingness to walk toward his authentic calling which was given to him by God. Now, as a follower of Christ of one that is taking hold of that for which Christ took hold of us we cannot hold on to our identity. We can't. We can't hold on to the old identity. Your identity must change. It has to. It's part of the process. When God speaks, when he changes you your identity has to change. Listen, when I got saved as God began to call me into ministry it was a process. I had to learn how to become more like Christ. I had to understand what God was calling me to and it wasn't easy. I had a very promising future in business. I would have been okay. I could have easily achieved my goals of having the American dream. It was all within my reach. All of it. But I had to choose to reach towards God's purposes and stop reaching for the American dream. And when that happened as God led me in that process and he began to see that I truly was reaching towards his calling and the authentic reason why he placed me on this earth he changed my identity. And I remember, I remember the first time it was kind of bestowed on me. You're Pastor John now. You're not just John. You're not just that kid that grew up in Lighthouse Gospel Tabernacle. You're not that kid that straight away grew your hair real long and started doing drugs. You're not that guy anymore. You're Pastor John now. You're somebody that I've called and I want to use to impact people's lives for Christ. And in those early days as I began to follow that call in my life I was broke. I was broke. I was barely surviving. I had a young family that needed me, that needed provision. But every day I just kept on reaching for our authentic life in Christ and who God called us to and authentically made us to be. And it's not that what I had was bad. It just wasn't what God had for me. And he's calling. It doesn't matter how good your life might be right now. Listen to his voice and seek his identity. Run after his identity in your life. Stop trying to hold on to everything that you ever wanted and begin to take on what he wants for your life. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website authenticlife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church. To find out what we have going on or to make a donation, you can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery and youth programs so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening and God bless you.