Live Free with Josh Howerton - Identity and Intimacy | Ep. 105 | Friday June 30, 2023

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

Jesus has compassion for all of us “doers” who want to earn our way to His love. Let's draw near to Him, let His love define us, and let go of our obsession with works. Pastor Mike unpacks a powerful lesson from the rich, young ruler who met Jesus. Are you choosing to let God’s love define your identity? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? My name is Mike Bro. And for about five minutes every day, we hang together on the Daily Drive podcast,

just trying to get to know God better through his words. So thanks for jumping on today. We've been talking this summer about some of the lies that hack into our soul and steal our identity. And the lies we've been focused on in the last few days is the one that says this, I am what I do and how well I do it. We've been talking about performance and that quest for success and significance chasing, even bowing down to an image that can really mess with our identity. I told you last episode that we're going to look at Luke 18 today.

We're going to meet a young guy who was caught up in that spin cycle of identity theft. This was a guy who was so committed to keeping up the image. And he looked like he was all together, working the image, you know, skinny Jean Toga, Jordan's on his feet, young, handsome abs of steel, cover boy for Mediterranean GQ, driving like a Bentley chariot with all the options. by all appearances this guy had life all figured out, but in reality, he was feeling a little empty, sensing that maybe, just maybe, there was more to life.

So he comes to Jesus, and he asks this question, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do? And we all have those kind of questions. What happens when we die? Will I go to heaven? Will I live forever? And how do I pull that off?

And this guy is a high achiever. He's a peak performer. financially, religiously, he says, I've always had to do something. So let me ask you, a good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I think a lot of us like this guy feel like our eternal destiny is a result of our earthly behavior, earthly performance. Now, doing good things and having right behavior should be a grateful response to a loving God. But, gang, it is not what merits eternal life.

It is not about what we do. It's about what's been done for us on a bloodstained cross. but it makes sense for this guy that he feels this way because in his culture he is successful he's rich he's a climber in fact in Jesus day society view people who are rich as people that God accepted and blessed so this guy's working the whole image thing he thinks he's worked his way into good standing with God

so Jesus says to him verse 20 you know the commandments do not commit adultery do not murder do not steal do not give false testimony honor your father and mother and as Jesus clicks off these from the Ten Commandment list. He obviously leaves out the top ones about no other gods and not bowing down to other images, the ones that have to do with a personal relationship with God. He just lists all the outward commands that people can see, the right performance kind of ones that just enhance your

good image. And the guy comes back with this. He says, well, yeah, all those I've kept since I was a boy. Yep, 4.0 looking good. And I love what it says in Mark chapter 10 about this encounter. It says Jesus looked at him and loved him. Man, that's just so great. Jesus looked at him and loved him. I could do an entire podcast on just that line. He was just full of compassion for this guy. I think he's looking at this guy going,

you know what, you're a good guy who's trying to do the right things. You look like you've got it all together, get the whole image thing working. But one thing you lack, one thing you lack, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me. It says at this the man's face fell.

He went away sad because he had great wealth. Jesus said, one thing you lack. One thing you lack, and here it is. Surrender. You're bowing before the wrong image. The one thing you lack is complete surrender to the true and living God. Put him first in your life.

That's what will make all of your life come together for you. See, the truth is, God really doesn't have your heart. He doesn't have your affections. You might be keeping all the rules, but until you have this one thing right in your life, you'll just continue to worship and maintain a phony image, and that image is keeping you from really knowing God, and thus really knowing yourself.

And as a result, it's keeping you from really living life on this side and the other side of eternity. See, the issue here in this story is not money. You can be dirt poor and just as lost. Jesus is saying the issue here, is your heart. Who or what has it? This guy's worship of the image,

his success had hacked into his heart, and in the process, stolen his identity. There's a better way to do this. You know, last episode I asked you to imagine me drawing a cycle, a circle, with image at the top, and then working down to where we begin to worship this image, which leads to idolatry,

which now your identity is a worshipper of the image, and it's just a crazy cycle you live in. Let's do it this way. imagine another circle with me. You're going to write identity at the top. That's the first thing. Getting to know God, who he is, what he says about you, experiencing his unfailing love for you.

That's where it all starts. First things first. Remember in a prior episode, we learned that we had been made by him and for him. We find our identity as a much-loved child of his. And when you internalize that truth, it leads, now we're going to work down the circle to counterclockwise here, to intimacy.

We go from identity to intimacy. Now you're bowing before and chasing after something, someone who is worthy of worship, someone who is worthy of your affection, energy, and devotion, someone that's good and trustworthy and meaningful and eternal. Your heart is captured by his unfailing love for you. You feel his presence, your sense his guidance, you experience his peace,

begin to pulsate with his passion. You talk with him all the time. You worship him. You're filled with gratitude every day. And as a result, this genuine insight, out, transformation starts to take place on the inside of you. James 4A. just right on when it says

draw near to God. And he'll draw near to you. And you'll begin to experience this intimate relationship with the lover of your soul. Let his love define you. And as you do, transformation and healing starts to take place and you're filled up with all the stuff of really successful people.

Stuff like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. And now you're doing what you were created to do, working our way up the other side of this circle, you're reflecting his image to the whole world as you live with humility, passion, and purpose. And that's the cycle you've got to live in, identity, intimacy, and reflecting God's image. When you know and trust in a God who loves you consistently, unconditionally, and freely, man, it changes you. You know, so many people are

caught up in titles. And we're going to call me, I'm my CEO, I'm a C-O, my senior this, vice, that. I've had a lot of titles in ministry. I can remember when I got my first name plate from my office door. Excuse me. It said, Mike Bro, youth pastor. I still got that somewhere. And I've had many titles along the way. Senior pastor, lead pastor, teaching pastor, worship pastor. I was one time associate pastor. You know how they abbreviate that. Some people call me Pastor Mike in the south. People may call me Brother Bro, Reverend Breyox, but hey, I'm just bro, plain old bro. You see, I already have the only title that really matters. And I want to show it to you.

1, John chapter 3, verse 1 says this, See what great love the Father is lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are. It's the only title that matters. Genuine self-acceptance is knowing the smile of God. It's experiencing his approval, is getting to know him as a perfect father,

and defining yourself as the one that Jesus loves, and then living your life full out in the confidence of that. And although some applause, some acclaims, some awards may come our way, we're no longer obsessed with that. And being first, tops, recognized, rewarded, regarded, or popular, that's not what fuels us anymore. We no longer let criticism eat our lunch because we accept the reality of our human limitations. We work better on a team because we know that God is also gifted other people to share the load. Instead of being jealous of their talents, we celebrate their uniqueness and what they bring to the team. We walk through life with a humble,

confidence of our own God-given uniqueness. We stop running so fast and trying so hard to be somebody because we know we already are. My prayer for you is that you would relax in the reality of that today.

Actually, rest in that reality the rest of your days, because I am not what I do. I am what he has done. Hey, we've got one more to lie to unpack, and we'll dive into that next episode. Hope you have great day. See you back. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com.com.com. Daily Drive.