Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Who Are You? | New Testament | Ephesians 5

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

What is your identity rooted in? In a society searching for identity in work, success and who you know, where do Christians fit in? Where should Christians look for their identity? In today's episode, Keith uses Ephesians 5 to answer the questions of "who am I?" and "what's my purpose?'". Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Ephesians 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. In 2004, in Georgia, a Burger King employee started their morning shift by carrying trash out to the dumpster, where they found a naked, middle-aged white man covered in sunburns and blood. This man had no memory of who he was. He had no idea how he had gotten there. So the manager of the Burger King called the police, and the police came and took this man

to the hospital. He had no social security number, no birth certificate, no photo ID. In other words, he didn't have any of the things necessary in our society to prove who you are or to get something basic like a job or a place to live or even access to a homeless shelter. The story of this man spread and he ended up being invited on Dr. Phil. The idea was that maybe someone watching Dr. Phil would recognize this man and help him reclaim his identity. But there was no such luck. Finally, they just made up a name to give this guy. They call him Benjamin Kyle, continuing the BK theme. And Benjamin Kyle serves as kind of a metaphor for each of us, as we stumble through life unsure of who we are. Those questions, who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

What's my purpose? Well, they seem like basic questions that every person and even every society ought to be able to answer. But it's increasingly difficult to find answers to life's basic questions. People used to define who they are by looking up to God or outward to family and the community. The modern person, though, has thrown all that off and said, look, I'm not going to be shackled by the past. I'm not going to be shackled by other people. So instead of looking up to God or outward to family and community, I will look within myself. I will define myself and define myself and discover my own purpose by looking inside of me. Self-definition has replaced divine definition. The book of Ephesians contains six chapters. In the first half of the book, Paul says,

over and over, remember who you are. Remember who you are. You are blessed and forgiven and adopted. God's power works in you. Remember all that God has done for you in the gospel. You were dead in your sin, but now you're alive in Jesus. You are part of his body made up of all kinds of people from all across the world. For three whole chapters, for half the book, Paul doesn't really tell them to do anything, which I think demonstrates incredible patience on Paul's part. Because if I were the apostle and I had started this church in Ephesus and I heard they were experiencing problems, my letter would have started with something like get your act together but paul doesn't do that instead in the

first three chapters he talks about their identity and he just repeatedly says remember who you are remember who you are because like the guy found in the back of the burger king if you don't know who you are you can't function in life your identity shapes how you live if i don't know who i am then i'm going to let other people define me. So who am I? Well, a Christian's identity is rooted in Jesus. In Jesus, I am an adopted child of God. In Christ, I've been redeemed. I've been bought out of slavery by the blood of Jesus. In Christ, I've been sealed or marked with the Holy Spirit. In Christ, I've been forgiven, reconciled to God, and I now live in relationship with my brothers' and sisters in Christ. I am a new creation. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul says,

since you're not the person you used to be, you shouldn't live like the way you used to live. Here's how he puts it in Ephesians 5-8. For you were once darkness, but now you're a light in the Lord. Live as children of the light. Some of the best known stories use images of light and darkness. Think about Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, where light versus darkness plays a prominent role. Well, light and darkness are metaphors the Bible uses. In Acts 26, Paul tells the story of how Jesus changed his life and then commissioned him to tell the Gentiles about Jesus. Listen to how Jesus commissions Paul and how he uses the themes of light and darkness to explain Paul's mission. So, Acts 26, verse 15.

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, the Lord replied. Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them. Now here's the key point. To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins.

and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Did you hear how a Christian was defined there? A Christian is someone whose eyes have been open and they have gone from the darkness into the light, or as he says from the power of Satan to God. Paul says something very similar in the book of Colossians, when he says that a Christian is one who has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light

or the kingdom of God's son. So what Paul is saying in Ephesians 5 is that you were once darkness. And so that's how you lived. But now you have been brought into the kingdom of light. And so your life should change because you're no longer the person you used to be. So all the commands of Ephesians chapter 5, and by the way, there are a lot of commands in this chapter. They are instructions to us to live out who we are.

are in Jesus. Commands like we find starting in verse three, that there should not be a hint of sexual immorality or of impurity or of greed. We shouldn't have any obscenity come out of our mouth, any foolish talk or any coarse joking, but instead we should be filled with Thanksgiving. When Paul gives those commands, he's not saying, hey, look, don't break these really important rules. What he's saying is that you shouldn't live this way anymore because this isn't who you are. You've been made new. You've been adopted. You're now one of God's children. So it's not okay to give yourself over to the darkness. Here's verse six. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Paul says, look, people are

going to try to deceive you. They're going to try to tell you that darkness is light and that darkness is good, but don't let them deceive you. Don't fall for the lie. God's wrath comes on the disobedient. C.S. Lewis said, you can't go against the grain in the universe and not expect that you're going to get splinters. There are always real-world consequences for disobeying God.

Now, of course, it's always possible for a child of light to start slipping back into the darkness. But when a Christian sees the darkness creeping into their life, what they want to do is confess that to God and get back into the light and start walking. But when, of course, a Christian starts seeing the darkness creep into their light, what they want to do is confess that to God and begin to live like they are and to begin to live in the light. In other words, there is always a chance for darkness to be creeping into our life,

but a Christian won't want to stay in the darkness. Here's first John. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. Every Christian is a child of light. Therefore, we walk in the light. Not because we're trying to keep all the rules, but because this is the person that God has made us. He has changed us. We are new creations.

When we see the darkness starting to creep in, the right response is to confess that to God, to have him cleanse us and purify us from all unrighteousness. Amen.