Who am I?
January 14, 2012
Rom 8:16
Introduction
- Yesterday at the 8am Bible study, we started a discussion which I would like to continue with this evening
- Someone once said “I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.”
- As we started life, we learned lots of lessons
- We learned that when we when we did what mom and dad said, life was ok, and when we did not, all hell broke loose
- We learned that we needed to meet the expectations of others, and that they would then reciprocate with approval
- We learned that when we did not meet the expectations others had of us, we were considered to be failures
- Life was very black and white
- We met expectations or we did not
- We were afraid of being a failure, because there were consequences attached to that
- So we learned to fit in the mold created for us by the people around us, living up to their standards
- And when we failed to measure up, we saw ourselves as failures
The chicken and the eagle
- Eagles have a special meaning for me
- Easter two years ago I was praying at Lake Shasta, about God’s purpose for me, and seeking His direction
- An eagle soared towards me from the right, circled in front of me and then climbed into the sky. At the same time there was a crack of thunder in the hills across the lake.
- To me, this was God’s direction for me, and it led to Dianne and I pastoring here in Susanville.
- I want to tell you a story about an eagle
- While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens.
- One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.
- "Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.
- The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food.
- Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, " You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens. Theology News and Notes, October, 1976
- This story illustrates what happens in our life
- For whatever reasons, people have expectations of us, like the chicken eagle
- It was expected to behave, eat and live like a chicken
- There are expectations for us too
- If we grew up on the wrong side of town, the expectation is that we will not amount to much, the neighborhood in which we live will somehow limit our possibilities
- The color of our skin holds us back, we feel we can’t be a somebody in life
- Perhaps our past holds us back, the mistakes we made and the people we hurt, and we feel it is impossible now to be of value to anyone!
- We see ourselves as being without hope in the world
- And there was such a time for all of us
- Eph 2:12-13 “remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ”
- Before we accepted Jesus, we were indeed without hope
- But now things have changed! Eph 2:19-22 “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit
- Eph 2:4-10
- What an incredible position to be in!
- Here we are not hindered by the expectations of others
- Gal 3:28 Neither Jew nor Greek
- None of us is better than another!
- In fact, we are to esteem the other better than ourselves – Phil 2:3
A special relationship
- We have a special relationship with God
- He has come to make his home in our spirit! That is special! John 14:23
- He has adopted us as his children! Rom 8:12-17
- He has a purpose and a calling for our life! Jer 29:11
- He provides what we need for this calling, and will never give up on us! Rom 11:29
- Whatever we have done, whatever our sin, no matter who we have hurt, the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cover it
- There are no second-class citizens in God’s setup!
- In this life we may have messed up bad, but God looks way beyond that!
- He sees someone who is not a washed up failure, but someone he wants to use, someone whose experiences in life will impact another person powerfully!
- So, even if you may feel put down or maligned sometimes, don’t let it get to you!
- See yourself like God sees you, the way you really are!
Conclusion
- People may have called us a chicken for a long time
- We live among chickens, act like chickens, believe we are chickens
- But God says you are an eagle
- Will you stretch out your wings and fly?
- You were created with a purpose in mind, and nothing you or I can do will stop God from achieving his vision
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