Mark Driscoll
By Ashley Andrews, 700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –"We have a condition." At least, that is how Mark Driscoll sees it. In his new book Who Do You Think You Are, Mark takes on the state of Christians today. "We're continually forgetting who we are in Christ and filling that void by placing our identity in pretty much anything else. This leads us to often ask...'Who am I?'...Tragically," he continued, "few people - even few Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christians - rightly answer that question." But why? Why is it that so many people have an identity crisis?
THE ROOT
"The fundamental problem we have in this world," he pointed out, "is that we don't understand who we truly are - children of God made in his image - and define ourselves by any number of things other than Jesus. Only by knowing our false identity apart from Christ in comparison to our true identity in him can we finally deal with and overcome the issues in our lives." In today's culture, it is not hard to get your identity cross with what you do, what you have, what you've done and what you make. From social media profiles to bios and resumes, we put labels on others as well as ourselves. We are our job, paycheck, possessions, addictions, talent, obsessions, imperfections and reputation. But does any of that really define who we genuinely are? Who we are often gets entangled by what we have or what we do. So it's no wonder why so many of us are lost, trying to find ourselves.
As Mark shared, "Your identity is in this constant state of chaos and change and influenced sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. What this leads to is a very inconsistent emotional and spiritual life. These are the things (achievements, duties, and material possessions) that may explain you, but they do not define you." Likewise, "You aren't what's been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren't what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn't determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do. "
IMAGE BEARER
In answering the "Who am I?" question, Mark starts at the very beginning - Genesis 1. In this chapter (specifically 26-27), Mark wrote that, "The Trinitarian God who lives in eternal friendship and community created us to image Him. God uniquely honors humanity in this way. He's made nothing else in His image. Practically, this means that God made us to image, or reflect, Him, as a mirror does." But we tend to forget this, especially these days. "In a world where we're encouraged to spend much time gazing at ourselves in a mirror, it's helpful every time we look in the mirror to be reminded that we're to mirror God to others." Once we see ourselves as His image bearers, then and only then can "we have both humility and dignity."
WORSHIP
God made us worshipers. We are hardwired for it. Or as Mark put it, worship "is the essence of our being." What's more, he shared that, "Our worship never starts and stops. It's not limited to a building in which we attend sacred meetings and sing worship songs. Rather, our entire life is devoted to pouring ourselves into someone or something. Saying it another way, we're 'unceasing worshippers.' We aren't created to worship, but rather we're created worshipping." From there, Mark goes on to say that, "Everything in life is sacred, and nothing is secular. It is a lie from Satan that life can be compartmentalized in such a way...In the eyes of God, our choices, values, expenditures, words, actions, and thoughts are all acts of worship. They make up identity." So, Mark continued, "The only question is, what is your object of worship?"
This is where idolatry comes in to play. According to Mark, idols are items, duties, others, longings and sufferings that get in the way of our worship of God. And we all fall into one of two categories: "those who worship the Creator and those who worship created things." Because of sin, we are prone to the latter, and that leads us directly to idolatry. "Idolatry," he wrote, "is so destructive and pervasive that Biblical counselor David Powlison has rightly said, 'Idolatry is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures.'" What we worship becomes eventually becomes "deified" - it becomes our god. And when our object of worship is anything other than God, we become "idolaters worshipping created things, including the fallen angels whom God created."
IDENTITY CRISIS
How do you know when your identity is in crisis? Well, like with most everything in life, there is a process. As Mark described, "Most of us live unaware of the source of our identity until change occurs..." And this change often comes in the form of "hardships and pain." For instance, "When an individual faces adversity, it leads to a crisis as his marriage, children, appearance, wealth, success, career, religious performance, political party, favorite cause, loving relationship, treasured possession, or something else crumbles under the weight of being a god." Then disaster sets in.
"First, he lives in anxiety and fear that the source of his identity may fail him or be taken from him. Then, as his identity begins to totter, he becomes panicked and seeks to salvage his identity idol. Finally, when his identity fails him, he looks for someone to blame." Some blame others, some blame God and some blame themselves. "Tragically," he shared, "many who lose their individual identity idol simply choose another one, rather than turning to Jesus Christ." And they doom themselves to the very same inevitable process over and over again. "Such people go from one addiction to another, one compulsion to another, one religious commitment to another, and one relationship to another, continually seeking the answer to the question, 'Who am I?'"
And this isn't anything new - just think back to Genesis. As Mark pointed out, "God's enemy and our adversary tempted our first parents to sin by creating an 'identity crisis.' The father of lies implied that their eyes were closed to their true identity and that their 'eyes would be opened, and they would be like God'...Here is the truth: God made us with our eyes open in His 'likeness,' which is our true identity. But Satan and people like him, with the same sinful motives, lie to us about who we are in order to serve their own plans." And being a Christian doesn't mean you have it all right either. "Being a Christian," he wrote, "can be like driving in a foreign city. You try living on the straight and narrow but instead take a wrong turn onto the wide avenue of sin and temptation. In the process, you become discouraged and condemned, limping along in your faith - or giving up altogether. But this isn't the real Christian life. You can make a U-turn..."
FIRST ADAM, LAST ADAM
Jesus was the "last Adam." That's what Paul called him anyway, and he had good reason for it. As he saw it, Jesus "is the remedy for idolatry and the redeemer of humanity." However, the other Adam, the first Adam as it were, "was the source of idolatry and the downfall of humanity...The first Adam turned from the Father in the Garden; the last Adam turned to God in a garden. The first Adam was naked and unashamed; the last Adam was naked and bore our shame. The first Adam's sin brought us thorns; the last Adam wore a crown of thorns..." Now, as Mark pointed out in Scripture, "we die in Adam but are born again in Christ: 'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." Simply put, "In Adam there is condemnation, but in Christ there is salvation." God became man and gave an example to follow. Because of Jesus, we know what "perfect, unceasing worship" looks like. And through Him, Mark ensures that we can become God's image bearers.
I AM IN CHRIST.
Throughout his book, Mark shares that if we are in Christ we can rest in the fact that we are "blessed, appreciated, saved, reconciled, afflicted, heard, gifted, new, forgiven, adopted, loved, rewarded and victorious." And in the end, he urges readers to really consider who they are and who they want to be. "In Christ, you are forgiven. In Christ, you are clean. In Christ, your captivity has been replaced with a new identity. For those not in Christ, this life is the closest to heaven they will ever get, and defeat is ultimately theirs. But for those of is in Christ, this life is the closest to hell we will ever get, and victory is ultimately ours...So who do you think you are? If you love Jesus, serve him, follow him, and call him your Lord and Savior. There's good news: in Christ you have a new identity. And the great news about this good news is that once you really know and believe that, your life will be changed forever..."