If you’ve ever heard Mark Driscoll speak, you know that he pulls no punches as he unashamedly uses the Bible to address the situations we all face. Who Do You Think You Are? is no exception.
Your friends, Madison Avenue, your colleagues, even your family members are all trying to influence you. They all weigh-in on who you are, or who they think you should be. But Pastor Mark Driscoll wants to show you who the Bible says you are. So using the book of Ephesians in the Bible, Pastor Mark convincingly and lovingly will show you that you are…
In Christ
A saint
Blessed
Appreciated
Saved
Reconciled
Afflicted
Heard
Gifted
New
Forgiven
Adopted
Loved
Rewarded
Victorious
Pastor Mark writes in a very readable, conversational style as he uses the powerful words of Ephesians, along with some personal stories from his own life, as well as the lives of others he has known, to make sure you know how God sees you. In a world where everyone else wants to squeeze you into a different mold, how freeing it is to discover how God sees you, and to know that God loves you because you’re you!
This was a very encouraging read. I’d recommend this to anyone struggling with peer pressure or with their own self-identity. I also think this would be an excellent book to use in a small group setting, perhaps even among a recovery group.
Don’t you get annoyed when an overly-religious person spouts off some pie-in-the-sky, feel-goodism that sounds religious, but doesn’t seem to have any grounding in the real world?
Like when a church leader says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” when you are in the midst of a painful situation? This is one of those statements that’s great for church, but not so great for the battlefield of life, right?
Actually that statement was made by the apostle Peter (see 1 Peter 1:3).
He didn’t shout it in a church service, but in a letter to Christians who were on the run from their persecutors. Many of them had lost their homes and businesses, had to leave their hometowns, were separated from their families, and were having their very lives threatened. Peter didn’t just shout this praise, he explained its origin, too.
Over the next few verses he asks us to consider what a relationship with Jesus Christ would bring us, and then to put the positives and negatives on a scale—
The Positives
God’s mercy
New life
Living hope
Resurrection from the dead
Secure inheritance
An eternity with God in Heaven
God’s power shielding us
The Negatives*
Grief
Trials
*
So whether we look at the eternal positives or the temporary “negatives” there is cause for rejoicing. When a Christian is in a difficult situation, he must remember this:
This situation is only temporary
This situation will ultimately bring glory to God
Weigh the positives and negatives and you will see that what you are going through now cannot even begin to compare to the glory of God that is coming! The apostle Paul echoed Peter’s words when he wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
So keep your eyes on Jesus, and keep shouting your praise to Him.
Holy Spirit, please help me to look away from the temporary and keep my eyes on my eternal God and Savior.
This is a hot-button issue for me, because there is something in my personality that gets fired up by a bully, more than almost any other issue. Bullies are truly cowards, but to the one being bullied at school or at work, that doesn’t seem true. Many times someone getting bullied feels they are all alone, which is why others need to be aware and step in to help.
In his book Unstoppable, Nick Vujicic talks about when he was bullied at school (you can read my book review of Unstoppable by clicking here). He then offers a list of symptoms to be aware of in someone close to you.
Common signs that someone is the victim of bullying include:
Increased reluctance to go to school or work events that peers attend
Refusing to discuss the day’s events upon coming home
Torn clothing, unexplained injuries, and stolen items
Asking for extra money to take to school
Carrying weapons to school
Reporting headaches, stomach problems, and nervousness before leaving and upon returning home
Reporting an inability to sleep or having bad dreams
Increased problems concentrating
Major changes in eating habits, either more or less
Little or no social interaction with peers
Self-harming through cutting, scratching, hair pulling, and other means
Appearing fearful to leave the house
Running away from home
Sudden drop in school or work performance
Dramatic darkening of mood before leaving and upon returning home
Negative and self-critical expressions
From his personal experience, Nick also offers this wise advice—
If you are a victim of bullying, remember that the most important battle you must win is the one within. What someone else says or does to you should never define who you are. God created you for a purpose. You have value in His eyes. Put your faith in that, and then put that faith into action by rising above any criticism, gossip, or abuse that happened in the past. You were perfectly made by God. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. A bully wants you to believe that you are less than you are, because putting you down makes the bully feel superior. You don’t have to play that game. Focus instead on building upon your gifts. God will take care of the rest. Joy and fulfillment will come as you walk the path created for you and only you.
If someone is bullying you at school or at work, please tell someone close to you. Trust me: they want to help you!
Let’s be aware of these telltale signs in those we love, and then step in to help where needed. A great resource to help you navigate the nasty world of bullying is The Jeremiah Project 51. Please click on the link and check out their resources.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Love is not always flowery and sweet, where everyone gets along, and no one is ever mean or even unkind. Actually that’s not love; that’s selfishness. You’re saying, “I will love you because it makes me feel good. I get something special out of this when I am kind and loving to you.”
The ancient Greeks had different words for love. Whereas we use love for food (“I love my pasta”), and the same word for special people (“I love my wife”). But we all know that I’m not really saying my wife and a plate of spaghetti are on the same level.
So the Greeks had a word for love for the inanimate (like food and music), and a word for this-makes-me-feel-so-good (like sex and alcohol), and a word for treating someone humanely or kindly (sometimes called brotherly love). These are well-known loves, but they are very fragile. The law of diminishing returns says that each time I experience one of these loves, its ability to please me the next time is slightly reduced, until at one point this thing/person no longer satisfy me at all. In fact, they may even cause my stomach to churn in nausea.
But there was one more word the Greeks used for love, that the biblical writers used almost exclusively. This word (agape) is not tuxedos and dancing gowns and chandeliers. This love shows up in work clothes, with callouses on its hands and knees, because it’s determined to serve someone else no matter what!
This is the kind of love God exhibited toward us—God shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
And this is the kind of love Jesus commanded us to exhibit toward others… even toward those we think are unloveable—By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another. … If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even “sinners” love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even “sinners” do that (John 13:35; Luke 6:32-33).
This is the kind of full love that those apart from Jesus Christ do not know, but they can see it and be drawn to it if Christians will demonstrate it. Henry Drummond said this—
“Never offer men a thimbleful of gospel. Do not offer them merely joy, or merely peace, or merely rest, or merely safety; tell them how Christ came to give men a more abundant life than they have, a life abundant in love. … Then only can the gospel take hold of the whole of a man, body, soul and spirit. … Only a fuller love can compete with the love of the world.”
Let’s show the world a fuller love, and in so doing we will show them Jesus!
Pastor, I love how the Apostle James consistently addresses his audience in his epistle. Over a dozen times in his five short chapters, Pastor James addresses his congregation as my brothers (sometimes the phrase is even my dear brothers).
The word brothers is always the Greek word adelphos, which means from the same womb. James didn’t elevate himself, nor put down others in the church; he constantly put himself on the same plain. He was saying, “Look, I struggle with what you struggle with—we all have the same issues. I’m not immune to these things because I’m the so-called leader of the Jerusalem church. I have to keep alert and keep on working in these areas too!”
Sometimes James adds the adjective dear (or as the KJV says, beloved). This word is from the root word which means to be fond of someone, to love dearly, or to be well pleased. James, in essence, is saying, “I like you! You’re not just someone that goes to church with me, but you’re a dear friend.”
As the adage goes—People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So almost every point James covers in this epistle is introduced by the my brothers tag. It’s his way of reminding them, “I’m sharing this with you because I really like you, and I want us to grow closer to God together.”
Wow! What a great example for me as a pastor. I’m not immune to struggles. I’m not in a separate category. I’m in this with my dear brothers and sisters, and I want us to all overcome and grow in our level of intimacy with God together.
UPDATE: This is one of the major themes in my book for pastors called Shepherd Leadership. I hope you will check it out!
If you’ve ever heard Mark Driscoll speak, you know that he pulls no punches as he unashamedly uses the Bible to address the situations we all face. Who Do You Think You Are? is no exception.
Craig T. Owens 