Matt's House Church: Arbutus, MD

Part V: Jesus’ Identity


Here are some questions that will help us review our journey thus far in this Series.
• Question: Jesus was labeled by the religious folk as a Glutton, Drunk and Friend of
Sinners, how about you…are you a friend of Sinners? (Old Country Song by
Garth Brooks, “Cause I've got friends in low places; Where the whiskey drowns;
And the beer chases my blues away.”
• Question: Is your heart, your mission, your attitude like Christ’s or like that of the
religious leaders in Jesus’ day, are you “For People” or “Against” them?
• Question: Are you easily shocked or repelled by the mud, the mess, of humanity
or are you un-shockable like Jesus?
Opening Reading: Psalm 18:1-2; 7-15; 30-36
Illustration: Rob’s Identity, connecting with God’s identity…Warrior!
My whole life I’ve wanted to be a Warrior…since those days running around playing
out battle scenes in my backyard, in the woods, in the neighborhood to the streets
of Baltimore as a street cop. But I never really connected that “Warrior” part of me
with God. It almost seems, in most churches that, there is NO NEED for A
WARRIOR. Most people don’t speak of God as a Warrior or Christ in those terms…I
guess they seem juxtaposed to LOVE. While preparing for this message, God
brought to mind something that I’d forgotten about, that’s tucked away in my journal,
from 17 years ago. While on a missions trip to Honduras a pastor spoke a word over
me, while I was in a crowd of about 3,000 people. “You will be a captain of many…”
As a soldier and as a police this word connected with the Warrior within. As I
reflected on those words God brought other memories to mind from that trip, when I was
asked to preach at a prison and a military base. Then, God reminded me of how He
reiterated that word again, during a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in 2001.
• Point: God knit within little Robert Gale Benson II heart, His Warrior Heart; and He
was calling it out of me my entire life: from childhood, career choices, missions
trips, pastors, the Father (Terry-Warrior) he gave me and even now in preparation
for this message. Point - Change is a matter of identity!

As a Follower of Christ, like our Lord, we are on MISSION to see those “Far from
God” draw near.

Today’s Question: Is our call to help people find their IDENTITY in
Christ; or make them better rule followers? What leads to real change?
Paul’s words to the Galatians who he had led into relationship with Christ, “After
starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by
your own effort?…For the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person
has life.’ This way of faith is very different from the way of Law.” (Gal. 3:3; 11-12)
• Point: In Jesus’ teaching, according to NT Scholar, Klyne Snodgrass, He
confronted and help people rearrange how they thought about themselves…
describing the identity they should have, what God intended from the beginning…
Jesus believed that if people got a glimpse of what He intended them to be, they
would choose their God Identity and grow in it.”

Restoration of God Like Identity
Point: Not just temporal, but Eternal beings each one Unique, and one of a kind, an
image of God!
• Readings: Matthew 22:31-32; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; Ephesians 2:10
Question: Do you help people identify their uniqueness, as image bearers?

Point: Each person is Valuable, because they are created in the image of God
Reading: Luke 5:12-13 (Lepor Touched by Jesus)
• Illustration: Challenger League - Kids most people avoid because of their obvious
disabilities…but if you volunteer, if you open yourself up to them, if you engage
them they light up, the image of God in them is ignited because you show Value.
Reading: Matthew 6:25-27 (GK-Valuable=Be more Worth, be superior, be
excellent…than).
• Question: Do you help people identify with the fact that God values them, as they
are, not as they should be, by valuing them?

Point: Each individual is creative, uniquely; they are to bring their own unique
contribution to bear in our world; and they are born to reveal God’s Love to a lost
and hurting world. (Genesis 2:27-28)
• Question: Do you help people see their creative uniqueness, identify how their
natural giftedness is being displayed; and encourage them to use who they are to
love others?

Challenge
Illustration: Michelangelo, “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though
it stood before me, shaped and perfected in attitudes and action. I have only to hew
away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as
mine see it.”
• Question: What about you, what do you see in the people God puts in your path?

Closing - Handout with Questions & Suggested Reading (See Online “Click
On” rotator image.