- Chapters: [[Romans 6]]:1-14 - Preceded by a [[Baptism]] session - Part 2 of 3 of the [[Finding Contentment]] series - Previous: [[2026-01-11 All Souls 1130am -- Finding Contentment with what I have]] # Who am I? - [[Simon Dickson]]'s wife got a new job recently - Colleague says "he doesn't really know her yet -- who is [[Lucy Dickson]]?" - "Who am I" can be a surprisingly hard question to answer - "Do I feel contentment about that identity?" Or is it just "I'm just..." - Who am I? Three choices in our society: a. "I am who I say I am" -- the "platonic" view, currently dominant in our culture (e.g. [[Taylor Swift]] "Just be yourself, there's nothing better") - Some positives -- can help kids to see that they have potential in power - But note that it says that inside one is the real person, that "real person" is good, and that others should celebrate it - "I need to express how I feel, and be affirmed in that to be happy" - But what if inside me, I'm not quite a perfect work of art? We all know that there is a messy mess inside of us, both good and bad - The [[Bible]] says there are both, both [[God]]'s image and also fallen [[Sin]] b. "I am what I do" e.g. [[Joe Rogan]] "the only way I really figure out who I am is by doing difficult things" - "Am I a quitter?" or not - Can be exhausting -- makes e.g. unemployment extremely demoralizing, can make one very restless c. "I am what others say I am" e.g. [[Chris Martin]] "Who am I without [[Wembley Stadium]] saying 'you're awesome'?" - e.g. positive performance reviews, criticisms from friends and loved ones, may have a large impact on sense of identity - or what you are told in school can be very shaping - ones status and mood can shift wildly with their surroundings - like a "sugar high", that leads one to need to chase it again or else self worth is cut down # So who am I? - Either internal or external derivation of identity can lead to constant struggle and churn - **Fear** really drives so much of modern sense of identity - So to return to the question of [[Lucy Dickson]]: - If "I am what I say I am" -- TODO - If "I am what I do" -- she is an administrator. If she can't do that, what is she? No worth - If "I am what others say I am" -- if she can't deliver, others will call her rubbish, and she will be rubbish - Hence, lets look instead to [[Romans 6]]: **We are who [[God]] says we are** ## I am in [[Christ]] - v. 11 "count yourselves dead to sin but alive to [[God]] in [[Christ]] [[Jesus]]" - we are cleaved to [[Jesus]] like a bookmark is to a book -- if the book goes down, we go down too. same with up - that's what [[Baptism]] is as a picture for us: v. 4 "just as [[Christ]] was raised from the dead through the glory of the [[Father]], we too may live a new life" - Coming into the water represents [[Jesus]]'s death, and coming back up represents [[Jesus]]'s raising from the dead by [[God]] the [[Father]] - Gives us a totally different reason to understand who we are -- we are raised in [[Christ]] - v. 8 "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." - We will live with him physically when he returns ## An instrument of righteousness - Living with our identity of [[Christ]], we have a direction in life - v. 12 "Therefore do not let [[Sin]] reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires" - Even after [[Baptism]], [[Sin]] still remains, and still wants to reign as masters of our lives - Some may expect that after [[Baptism]] we no longer experience temptation, but that is not true until the [[Lord]] raises us in the [[New Creation]] - v. 13 "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to [[God]] as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness." - Comes without angst of trying to earn identity -- we know we are in [[Christ]]. Hence we don't have to prove ourselves to him, we can offer ourselves to him