Do You Know Who You Really Are?

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Do you understand who your are?  One of the most important things about your walk with God or as a Christian is to understand that you are a child of God.  You are one of his Kids that he loves very much.  More importantly, as one of his “real” kids you need to understand and KNOW what that really means. 

Let’s look at what the bible says about us.

Galatians 4:5-7
⁵to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[Daddy] Father." ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Hebrews 12:7-9
⁷Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

If we are true sons and daughters of God – God’s kids!  What does that mean?

Lets look at a couple of brothers in the bible who did not understand who they were.

First Esau, the son of Isaac, the bother of Jacob.

Genesis 25:27-34 

 ²⁷The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau was the son of Isaac and loved by his father.  He was the first born and entitled to inherit the majority of all that his father had.

 ²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

 ³¹ Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

 ³² "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

Wow! Esau is selling his birthright, How Much Is He Selling the Most Important Thing in His Life for??

 ³³ But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

 ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright.

Esau did not care about who he was!  He did not understand what it meant!  He treated being the son of Isaac as counting for nothing, something unimportant, something to despise and give away for some food! 

Would you give away who you are for some food?  How about a lot of money?  How about cool or popular friends that don’t care about the Lord?  How about a cute Boy or Girl that doesn’t go to church or love God?

Esau did think much about who he was and gave it away, now let’s look at the brother of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. 

For a quick summary of the story: The younger brother took his inheritance from his father, left his family and went out into the world.  He spent all the money, had no friends, and ended up with the pigs.  Bummed out, he went home to his family and his father to ask forgiveness and to be a servant.  Upon hearing that his lost son was coming home, he threw a big party and a barbeque.  He met his son on the road and hugged him.

When the other brother saw all this fuss for his brother, he became really mad.

Luke 15:28-32 

 ²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

He got angry because he hadn’t got a party, a celebration, or gotten a barbeque.  He forgot who he was and what that meant.  Listen to what the father tells the angry bother.

 ³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

He just didn’t know who he was and what comes with that.  He was his father’s son.  He was loved and everything his father had was his.  He could have had a party at anytime!  All he had to do was just ask his Father!

James 4:2-3 

² . . . You do not have, because you do not ask God.

(but remember - ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.)

John 14:13-14 

¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Family Questions for Everyone to Answer

Do you realize how you are in Christ? 

What would you tell the spirit who asked the seven brothers who they were?

Acts 19:13-15 

 ¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

What things are you missing out on or not getting because you are not walking in God’s love as his true son or daughter?

John 14:12 

¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

What things can you start doing today or how could you be by understanding who you are?

Galatians 4:7

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Romans 8:17
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Summary Questions

What was Esau’s problem?

What was the Prodigal Son’s brother’s problem?

Who are we?

What Authority do we have?

What Help and Love do we have?

Who’s family are we in?

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