Sermon Archive 2 - Trinity Fellowship

WHO ARE YOU?

December 26, 2004

Rick Trice

Scriptural Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

BIG JAKE:

As many of you know, I love movies. I particularly love movies that draw a parallel with Biblical truth, even when the filmmaker maybe didn’t even know it.

One of my favorite John Wayne movies is “Big Jake.” It tells the story of an aging rancher who left home years ago, and all this time he’s been roaming around, just being himself, and trying to live and let live. And pretty soon a lot of people forgot he was even around. But at times, someone would cross Big Jake. And if you remember John Wayne’s usual character, what that usually meant was dealing with them very directly and to the point, and in his particular manner.

And every time we see Big Jake dealing with injustice, the bad guy always asks him, “Who are you?” And John Wayne squints his eyes and answers, “Jacob McCandles.” Then you see the bad guy flinch, and start to back pedal, and finally stammers out, “I’m sorry, Mr. McCandles; I thought you was dead,” to which Big Jake replies, “not hardly.”

What I see in “Big Jake” is a pretty good parallel to some truth found in 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” You see, the world comes along in our lives, and tries to tell us who we are. And if I would go around the room today, I can tell you what the world say you are:

I’M A RANCHER

I’M A BANKER

I’M A HOUSEWIFE

I’M A NURSE

I’M A BUSINESSMAN

I’M A RETIRED BUSINESSMAN

I’M A STUDENT

I’M A TEACHER

I’M A FATHER

I’M A HUSBAND

I’M A SON OR DAUGHTER

I’M GRANDPA OR A GRANDMA

And then you know what happens? The devil shows up and tries to tell us we’re really dead!

I’M JUST A POOR SINNER, SAVED BY GRACE

I’M JUST A NO GOOD BUM

I’M A FAILURE

I’M A DEPRESSED, CONFUSED PERSON

I’M A STRUGGLING CHRISTIAN

You see, the world tells us that what you do defines who you are.

And for those that don’t know God, that’s all they have to hang their hat on.

But for believers, God has turned that definition totally around to instead say, “who you are defines what you do.” He then goes one additional step and says it also defines how you do it.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:20 say, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as if He were making His appeal through us!”

I THOUGHT YOU WAS DEAD

V. 18 goes on to say that now, all things (for us) are in God, and He has reconciled himself to the world; and not only that, but we are now to become reconcilers. That means that we are to continue in this world, but now we are defined by who we are in Christ…and then go an reconcile our activities that the image of christ in us.

Who are you? You’re a child of God Almighty!…you’ve been given the character and nature of Jesus Christ himself (ie. “made new”); and you’ve been given the mission and job of being a reconciler…to spread the good news to those around you, and let them see that what you do is because of being a child of God.

YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN HOMEMAKER

YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN RANCHER

YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN BUSINESS MAN

YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN STUDENT OR TEACHER; HUSBAND OR WIFE, SON OR DAUGHTER; FATHER OR MOTHER.

And what you do with your time today is supposed to come pouring out of you because that’s the way Jesus would do those things.

And when the devil comes and whispers in your ear, “you’re dead,” and the stress piles on and on, and you’re suddenly back where you were before you knew who you were in Christ, desparate and panicked… take a lesson from John Wayne…sometimes all we need to do is remember who we are in Christ, stand up tall and strong, look the devil in the eye and answer, “not hardly!”

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