Identity Determines Activity

Many thanks to Willis Weber from InterVarsity for helping us to continue to think about our identity this Sunday. This is the center of all we think and do. At Sanctuary, we can’t emphasize this enough.

Last week, Mark Driscoll addressed this issue as well.  So here is some reenforcement in the form of a video sermon excerpt.

With other religions, activity establishes identity. You do something in order to become someone. You have to do X, so that God will find you pleasing in his sight, etc. Activity creates identity. What you do determines who you are.

In Christianity, it’s the opposite: Through the grace of God and the work of Jesus, we receive an identity. Out of that identity, there is activity. Not so that God would love us, but because he already does. So, who we are determines what we do.

As he commands us to activity, it is simply the outworking of our identity. Our identity is light. Our activity is to shine.