Identity Before Performance

 In this episode, we explore what it means to become the man God says you are. Jesus never called men to simply try harder. He called us to abide in Him. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, a man cannot become who God created him to be apart from Christ. 

 #IdentityInChrist    #AbideInChrist 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, and welcome back to 42 Elite, the movement for men who refuse to stay the same, who see their lives as more than just showing up and going to church. This is a place where discipline is built, faith is strengthened, and purpose is shaped. So let's get to work. Our first two episodes dealt with discipline and faith, and today we're diving into one of the most important pillars of becoming an elite, the thing that ties them all together, and that's identity. Identity is the root of everything that we as men become. Our habits, decisions, disciplines, relationships, purpose all flow from who you believe you are. Your identity must be seen as the very bedrock of your new creation in Christ. The enemy is always going to try to get you to look at your past failures. But a man can't live beyond his identity. If you see yourself as weak, you'll walk like you're weak. If you see yourself broken, you'll live broken. If the enemy can get you to see yourself as unworthy, it will sabotage everything that God is wanting to do in and through you. So here's a truth that you and I both need to understand. Your identity is not something you create, it's something you discover. God tells us to know him, and in knowing him you discover who you are. Proverbs 23 7 says, For as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. In Romans 12 2, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So transformation happens through renewed thinking and identity. And finally, in Ephesians 4 1, we're told, walk in a manner worthy of your calling to which you've been called. Paul roots conduct in calling and identity. When the children of Israel left Egypt, they were physically free, but they weren't mentally, emotional, or spiritually. They were still slaves. They didn't know who they were or who God was or what they were capable of. They had been in captivity for 400 years. They were slaves. So God took them through the desert, not as a punishment, but to reveal and rebuild their identity. Forty years, forty-two locations, forty-two seasons of breaking old mindsets and building new ones. By the time they entered the promised land, they weren't the same people that walked out of Egypt. They weren't slaves anymore. Their identity changed, and because their identity changed, their destinies changed. And it's the same for you and I. You can't step into the man God designed you to be while still holding on to the past identity that you had, as broken and as failed as it was. Your identity has to be rebuilt. So let me give you some truths, three truths in fact, about your identity in Christ that each one of us must understand. The first is that identity isn't formed by what you believe. The first one is identity is formed by what you believe, not what you feel. I mean, let's face it, feelings lie, they shift, they're unstable, they change with every circumstance that we're in. But belief, belief is the foundation of identity. If you believe you're called, you'll act like it. If you believe you're chosen, you'll walk differently. If you believe you're forgiven, you'll stop living in the shame. If you believe that you're a son of God, which we are, you'll stop acting like a slave of your past. Identity is built on belief. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. In 1 Corinthians 6 11 it says, But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. And finally in Ephesians 4.22 it says, put off your old self and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God. So identity shifts from the old man to the new man in Christ. The second truth is that our identity is shaped by our environment. So what are some of our environmental things? Well, they're the men that surround you. They're the habits that you live by and the standards that shape your identity. If you surround yourself with men who arise, men who sharpen you, who challenge you, who call you higher, your identity will rise with them. That's why a brotherhood matters, because when we isolate, we're destroyed. John 15, 4 through 5 says, Abide in me and I in you. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. So fruit comes from the environment and the connections that we make, not our striving. And Colossians 3, 2 and 3 says, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. So our identity is shaped by what our minds focus and dwell on. And the third truth is identity is revealed through our obedience. You don't discover who you are by thinking about it. You discover yourself by what you walk out daily. In 1 Timothy 4, 7 through 8, it says, and I'm trying to memorize this verse here, it talks about godly training. It says, have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales. Rather, train yourselves to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Your obedience reveals the man you're becoming. Identity is not a feeling. It's not a label, it's not a personality type. Identity is a calling, and you grow into it through obedience and training or practice. John 14 5, excuse me, John 14 15 says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. So obedience reveals our relationship and identity. John directly ties our obedience to a general first John two verse three. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Excuse me. John directly ties our obedience to our genuine identity in Christ. And Matthew seven, sixteen, you will recognize them by their by their fruit. Fruit reveals the nature of the tree. So here's the challenge for this week. I want you to take one false identity about yourself, maybe something someone said about you, a past failure, uh something that just drags us down. And I want you to lay it down, and then I want you to replace it with one of the truths that we talked about today. Elite men don't live by their past, they live from their calling. And understanding your identity isn't the past that is now revealed and trained to be. Remember, you and I were bought with a price, and we're a new creation in Christ. So let's start living that way. Hey, thanks for listening to 42 Elite. Share this with other men who are on the journey. Remember, elite isn't a status, it's a decision, it's a discipline, it's faith, it's identity. Keep showing up, keep growing. I'll see you in the next episode.