Understanding the relationship between knowing who you are in Christ and who you are in the house of God

 Identity is the knowledge of who you are  Identity is the acceptance of and confidence in that knowledge  Identity is the act of being who you are

 Servants Mark 10:43 Luke 10:42-43  Sons Romans 8:14 Galatians 3:26  Friends John 15:13-15

 Lord/Master Luke 5:5 Acts 2:36  Father Matthew 6:9 Romans 8:15  Friend Isaiah 41:8 James 2:23

 The Master/Servant Model God is my boss and I am his servant My job is to do what he says and obey him fully  Father/Son God is my Father and I am his son My job is to be loved by him and love him  Friend/Friend God is my Friend and I am his My job is to fellowship with him

 Jesus commanded his apostles to make disciples  This means that their job was to represent him as Rabbi  This means that the way they relate to their disciples must correspond the way Jesus relates to his disciples  Churches tend to pick a model and major in it

 The Pastor is the Master and the Members are the Servants  The job of the pastor is to tell everyone what to do and the job of the members is to do it  Members are rewarded for obeying and punished for disobeying

 The pastor is the father and the members are the sons  The job of the pastor is to love and accept the members and the job of the members is to receive and reciprocate that love  Faithful sons will receive the inheritance of the house while unfaithful sons will be excluded from it

 The pastor is a friend to all of the members, and they are his friends as well  The job of the pastor is to maintain an emotional connection with the members and the job of the members is to honor this connection with their loyalty  Members who remain loyal are rewarded with closeness and members who are disloyal are ostracized

 We can’t pick a model! The Bible teaches all three!  These are not three realities, but different sides of the one reality!  Churches are now beginning to discover that they go together, but what is yet to be discovered is that the order matters!

 Friendship is first: You want to be my leader? Start by being my friend!  Servanthood is next: I will serve your vision as long as I feel emotionally connected to you.  Sonship is a distant possibility: Perhaps when you have built enough relationship and trust with me I will see you as my father.

 Servanthood precedes friendship: I no longer call you servants… (John 15:15) Interpretation: before today you were servants! You are my friends if you do what I command (John 15:14)  Sonship precedes servanthood Everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15). The Fellowship of Mature Sons = The Friendship of Jesus

 Sonship is first!  Then we learn to serve as sons  And if we do all that the Father commands, we become his friends

 This must be reflected in the church! If the order in the church is different than the order in the Kingdom, than the church is something other than a manifestation of the kingdom of God!  In the church we should become sons before servants, and servants before friends!

 This is so foreign to western culture that it will require a complete paradigm shift in the way we view and do church if it is to become a reality.  God has given us the opportunity to become front runners and pioneers in this revelation that he is restoring to the body of Christ.  We must be faithful!