Momentum - Learning to Come to Grips with the Real You, Part 1

Have you ever laid awake at night and wondered, who am I really?

I mean, when all the lights go out, when there's no one to impress, no expectations to manage, do you ever ask yourself, who am I and why am I here? The answer to that question is going to be found in today's message. Stick around. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drewy. And in this program, Chip tackles a question people have been asking forever. Struggling with, who am I, is common. But for many, it's an exercise in frustration or even despair.

There's hope, though, because according to what Chip's going to share, we can know, and we can get a clearer picture starting today. So let's join him now for part one of his message, Learning to Come to Grips with the Real You, from Exodus chapters two through four. We're going to ask and answer a very personal question that we all unconsciously under the surface are always asking, but often it never comes up to the front. And that is this, who do you really think you are? Not what you want other people think you are? Not what you think other people think you are?

But I mean when you take off, whether it's the makeup or the job or the success or the hurts or the pain or the abuse, and you peel away all the stuff, and you look in not just to the mirror, but the mirror of your soul, who are you? Who do you think you are? The question is not an easy one to answer, as there are many factors and many people who try to tell us who we are. To complicate matters, our desperate longing for approval drives us to seek and to look and act and be what we think others want rather than discover who we really are.

I'd like to tell you that if you're like over 50 or over 40 or over 60, you won't have to deal with this, but you will grapple with this all the days of your life. Who are you really? And how clear you get on answering that question, how accurately will determine the quality of your relationships and the contentment? Because an awful lot of people are doing a lot of stuff in lots of areas looking for peace and contentment because down deep they don't know who they are, and if the truth is known, they don't like who they are. It raises the question, so how do we come up, what factors develop this kind of invisible picture, this MRI we have of who we really are?

How do we get that? Our family background, our environment, our personalities, the significant others, role models from our childhood, the values and belief systems we were taught all play a critical role in the formation of our identity. So just when you list those, it gets pretty complex.

You want to have fun with some people that you like and you trust and have a great discussion, just sit down over coffee sometime this week and say who are the top three people, and you know, for good or bad, and the top three major events that shape the snapshot that comes out. This is down deep who you really think you are. So here's the question I want to tackle with you.

So, who are you really? If you open your teaching notes, we're going to jump in to Exodus and we're going to get some answers. We're going to look at the life of a man named Moses who had quite a journey trying to figure out who he was. At one point he thought way too high of himself, almost blew it.

At another point he thought way too low of himself and almost blew it. Because here's the key, here's one thing you need to understand. If you don't get a sober self-assessment and understand who you really are, not who you want to be, or not who you think you are, you will never fulfill the divine calling God has for you. God made you in a certain way. You need to know who that actually is because you're made for a purpose. You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good work. A good work that he has for you, that before the foundations of the earth he's got a job for you that will be the most thrilling, the most fulfilling, and the most impactful. And he made you in a certain way to fulfill that. But if you don't know who you are, you'll miss it.

Moses almost missed it. Notice as we open it up it says Moses' journey reveals how to come to grips with the real you. And you know I want to underline the word journey. This is a journey. This isn't like oh I really now know who I am. I got it all down. I went to one service.

It was great. Moses' parents, childhood, education, and experiences were God's preparation for him to fulfill his divine design. As you look in Exodus, look at chapter 2.

I love the way this opens up. For those of you maybe like me that didn't grow up in the church and I never opened the Bible and I didn't know a lot of these stories, the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt for about 400, 430 years. And Joseph was the great deliverer and then he died and then there were a bunch of pharaohs that came and now they don't remember who Joseph is and here's all they know.

They got all these Hebrew slaves and there's so many of them they're afraid that these Hebrew slaves are going to have a revolt and take over Egypt. And so they decide you know what the boys got to die. So if you have a little boy, you know infanticide. We kill all the little boys, the girls are okay. And then you get the story of these parents.

Notice chapter 2. During this time, a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw what a beautiful baby he was and kept him hidden for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she put a little basket made of papira wreaths and waterproofed it with tar and pitch and she put the baby in a basket and laid it among the wreaths along the edge of the Nile River. The baby's sister then stood at a distance watching to see what would happen and then later we find that the baby gets adopted and he grows up as the prince of Egypt.

And he has the best of education, the best of food, the best of everything. He becomes this very powerful leader. Now it's interesting, what I like about this is as we open chapter 2, during this time, how would you like your biography to read like this?

A man and a woman. I mean, when God is going to introduce probably the key character of the Old Testament and he wants to know the lineage. When he wants to know, you know, what kind of pedigree, what kind of platform, where do you come from, what's your DNA? Well, this guy came from a man and a woman.

I think that's there for purpose. I'd like you to observe that a lot went into his life. He had parents that were godly, they were willing to risk their life rather than kill him. He had parents that were risk takers, they had faith. He had parents will learn because of what he does later that was whispering in his ear who God was, Yahweh, the promises, the deliverance. And then he had parents that were willing to say, you know what, if this is God's will for you to live in Pharaoh's house, then so be it.

And here's what you need to understand. Your parents, your background, your physical DNA, some hardships you went through as a kid, some difficulty, your birth order, whether you were first or second or third or sixth in the family, God sovereignly uses your parents, your background, the lows, the highs, the difficulties, the pain, the experience, all of that for a sovereign God is preparing you for your Ephesians 2 10 divine assignment. Moses would need to know all about Egypt and Pharaoh and the gods and how they thought and how they worked when he would deliver later. Moses would need a great education.

Moses would need great parentage to be a risk taker and be willing to do something. All those factors made a big difference in his life. Now, I majored in psych and undergraduate and graduate work along with changing my majors and some other things. But at least it's been helpful to observe life. And when I begin to look back and I encourage you to do this, not in some sort of, oh, I'm a victim. I came out of this background. Oh, I've been through this difficult times.

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about looking at your family of origin realistically and realizing a lot of that made you who you are. You know, I mean, and I don't know about you, my dad's name was not Jesus. My mom's name was not Mary.

I mean, they were great people. My dad's dad died when he was 13. My dad at 16 and a half was in Guam, Iwo Jima. He went through horrendous things.

He had nightmares until he died at 85, 86. And my dad loved me. He just didn't know how to express it.

But I had to learn, okay, my dad really loved me, but the way he loved me was I want you to be successful because he thought being successful would make me happy. So when I got like four As and a B, we had to talk about that B. When I went two for four in baseball, we had to talk about the two times I grounded out. Now, look, son, here's what you understand. Look, you know, you pulled your head out. Don't put your foot in the bucket.

You stay down on the ball. I mean, and I'm thinking, dad, I got two hits. You know, when I got a degree, it was, well, that's real nice when you get your doctorate.

Could we like have a little party or just like celebrate this for like 34 seconds first? Now, he loved me, and my dad was a great guy. But what I understand, built into not only the physical DNA God gave me, I came from a home where performance, excelling, and getting people's approval was the way it felt like love. Well, I had to deal with that. And I had to come to grips with my natural tendencies are a certain way. This is the family I came out of. This is the era that I grew up in. I grew up in the late 60s and the 70s, graduated from high school in the 70s. There were things going on in the world.

You need to think that through. What were the values? What were the beliefs?

Who are my heroes? And you don't have to overanalyze it, but you got to get clear on it. I came to a little summary apart from Christ between my family background and the DNA that God sovereignly deposited in me. I grew up to be a highly motivated, deeply insecure, hardworking overachiever. Well, guess what? Now I know what I'm working with.

So what are you working with? I mean, it was sort of hard to come to grips with. Man, you are insecure. I am. But what I learned is everybody else is.

They just fake it different ways than I faked it. You are. For some of you, you're not an overachiever. You're an underachiever. For some of you, your parents were laid back.

I don't know what it is, but here's what you need to understand. You Moses parents, childhood education experiences where God's preparation, God wants to use it all for good. He's in control. It's true of Moses.

It's true of me and it's true of you. Second, Moses warped view. He was too high of himself, prevented him from fulfilling God's purpose for his life. Look at Exodus two, picking up at verse 11 verse 11. It says many years later in the Bible, they skip yours pretty quickly.

So he went from baby to 40 years old. Moses had grown up and he went out to visit his people, the Israelites, and he saw how they were doing forced labor. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves.

After looking around to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The next day, as Moses was out visiting his people, again, I mean, he's, you know, he's got these roots. He's got these these Hebrew concern, but you know, he is the prince. He is the man. He's the next guy for the throne. He's got the wherewithal and he sees these two Hebrews arguing. What are you doing hitting your neighbor like that? Moses said to the one that was in the wrong and then get this line.

I put this underline this in my Bible. Who do you think you are? It's an interesting question, isn't it? Hey, who do you think you are? The man replied, who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Do you plan to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? Moses was badly frightened because he realized that everyone knew what he had done. And sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about it, he gave orders to have Moses arrested and killed.

But Moses fled from Pharaoh and escaped to the land of Midian. Moses thought too highly of himself. Now here's what's interesting, and this is true of you and true of me. Sometimes we get our assignment right. This is what I'm supposed to do, but we try and do it in our own energy.

Moses basically says, here's what I put. He thought I'm capable, I'm able, I'm educated, and guess what? I'm the prince. I'm the man. You know what? I call the shots here. I mean, there's Pharaoh, but I'm Moses. Moses. You know, right?

Hey, what are you guys doing? And so he had confidence in himself. His warped view was he had power, prestige, and his abilities, his education, and his background gave him the right to call the shots. And he tried to do God's will, and it was God's will, his way, and his energy, and his power. And because of that, this over-inflated view of who he was, he almost missed it.

That's true of us. I mean, you think, well, gosh, well, I mean, I got this education, and then I got that, and then I moved up, and then I did this, and I spent all these years, and I had this on my heart. I think my motives are right. I think Moses' motives were right. But boy, his methodology was wrong, and God had to teach him something. But sometimes we don't just have a too high view of ourselves that prevent us from fulfilling our divine calling.

Sometimes it's too low. And so Moses' warped view, too low of himself, almost prevented him from fulfilling God's purpose for his life. I'm going to try and walk through very, very quickly Moses' too low view of himself, and he basically has four excuses. Now, you can read this later on your own.

But I want you to pick it up, if you will. And in chapter three, Moses was one day, he's tending his flocks. He's been out with these sheep. He's got a new world. He's got a new wife. He thinks his life is over.

He's hiding. And as he's out on this rocky terrain, he sees this bush, and the bush is on fire, but it's not burning. And the angel of the Lord is in the bush, and he comes near the bush, and the angel of the Lord speaks to Moses, and he says, you're on holy ground.

He takes off the sandals, and he hides his face in his hands, and he's in the very presence of God. And he's overwhelmed, and what he's going to hear is, I've heard the cry of my people, and guess what? Those instincts to rescue them were right, and I'm going to use you to rescue them.

I want you to go be my deliverer. Now that's a real short overview of most of chapter three. And then a conversation picks up, and we pick it up in, oh, let's see, about verse 10. He says, now go. This is God speaking to Moses. For I'm sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

Now before, he was thinking, it's a snap, man. I got that covered. Now listen to him. But Moses says, but who am I?

Interesting question, isn't it? Before they asked him, who do you think you are? And now it's like, well, who am I?

Excuse? I'm a nobody. No one could ever use me. I'm a failure.

I blew it. I mean, I don't, I'm nothing. How can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt? How many times a too low view of you has kept you from doing, you know, it might be a real small voice and God says, I want you to do this. I want you to introduce your neighbors to Christ.

Just have them over for dinner. Well, who am I? You know what? I want you to take this step. Oh no, who am I? Then God told him, I will be with you. Here's the solution to who am I. I'll be with you.

And this will serve as proof that I've sent you. When you've brought the Israelites out of Egypt, you'll be right here on this mountain in your worship. Really God says, Hey, who you are is not important.

What's really important is who am I and that I'm going to be with you. Well, then we get excuse number two. Moses is not convinced, but he protected. He protested. If I go to the people of Israel and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me, they won't believe me. They will ask, which God are you talking about?

What's his name? Then what should I tell him? You know, excuse number one was, you know, I'm a nobody. You know, excuse number two is that I'm not smart enough. I mean, but they're going to ask me questions. I don't know.

I'll have these people over for dinner. If I talk to someone about the Lord here or, you know, or if I, if I take this step of faith, I mean, I'm just not smart enough. I mean, I didn't go to the Bible college and stuff or, you know, as one guy told me, I've never been to college at all. I said, you run in this huge company. I'm not sure college was a really big deal for you. Was it?

Well, I know, but I'm sort of uncomfortable in those often a too low view. I'm not smart enough. So how does God answer that? God replied, I am the one who always is, or literally, I am that I am.

Just tell them that I am the ever existent one is the idea. Ego Amy, Jesus will quote this later in Greek when he talks to people who think he's claiming to be God and he'll say, before Abraham was, I am, and he reaches back into this text, the Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, you tell him I've sent you. Now go and call all the leaders of Israel and tell them the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Skip down to verse 18.

He reassures him again. Hey, you don't have to be smart enough. The leaders of the people of Israel, they're going to accept your message. And then he says, I promise even the Egyptians will treat you well. When you leave, they'll give you silver and gold. And then we skipped to chapter four and we get excuse number three. So God reassures him. I'll be with you. I'll take care of it.

Chapter four then. But Moses protested again. Look, they won't believe me. They won't do what I tell them. They'll just say the Lord never appeared to you. So, okay, let's see.

I'm a nobody, so God can never use me. I'm not smart enough now. I'm not credible. I mean, I mean, they're gonna listen to me. I mean, I don't have the credentials.

I don't have the platform. They'll never, never listen to me. And so God says, okay, wait, wait.

Moses, tell you what. I authenticate people by just not what they need out there someday, some way. Let me take something that's very common to you.

You've used all your life. See that staff in your hand? Yeah, yeah. Put it on the ground.

No, no, really. Drop it down. So he drops it down. It becomes a snake. So, okay, I want you to grab it.

This was probably very hard the very first time. I want you to grab this, this viper by the tail. He touches the tail.

It becomes a staff again. He said, so like if they, if you think you need credibility, what do you think about that one? And I think Moses facial expression is going, man, I'm not really sure that'll work. And so God says, okay, okay, okay, okay. That's plan A. Plan B, if they don't listen to that, Moses, you know that little, little robe you got on that, put your hand in it. Okay, yeah, good.

Okay. Now pull it back out. Ah, what is it?

Leprosy. Oh my lands. He says, stick it back. Pull it back out.

It's gone. See, if they don't believe plan A about the staff, go with the hand. That is gonna be really powerful. And then by the way, if that's not good enough, we'll go to the Nile. I got a deal.

We'll turn all of it into blood. Here's what I want you to know. Your credibility isn't the issue. You trust me and get your focus off yourself and I'll take what you already have by my power and by my grace and I'll use you in ways that you never dreamed. You've been listening to part one of Chip's message, learning to come to grips with the real you, from his series, Momentum, How to Ignite Your Faith. Based on Romans 12, Momentum fleshes out the structure of Chip's series, True Spirituality, by exploring the lives of some of the most famous men of the Bible. From Abraham and Moses to Joseph and Daniel, Chip helps us appreciate how these guys lived out the practicalities of true spirituality. In the process, Chip will ignite the momentum of your faith journey. Momentum's one of those series you're going to want to keep handy and listen to from time to time.

So let me remind you that accessing Momentum is easy with the Chip Ingram app. Chip, you know, whether it's phone calls or emails or letters, we hear from thousands of people. And one of the most common things we hear is, I feel spiritually stuck and I'm just trying to figure out what my next step is and what the Lord wants me to do.

What would you tell them? Well, what I'd say is, way to go. I mean, that's the kind of heart that God is looking for. And we have a brand new resource that I think will help people go from, I'm walking with God and I think I'm where God wants me to be, but I'm just not making a difference.

It's by a friend of mine named Lance Witt. It's called Leaving Ordinary Behind, 25 Days to an Extraordinary Faith. And by extraordinary faith, it doesn't mean that you're bigger or greater or more wonderful. It just means that when you study the lives of people with an extraordinary faith, you know, the Abrahams, the Daniels, the Joseph, the Moses, the regular people in Scripture, what was it? How did they see God? How did they catch the kind of faith that allowed those ordinary people to do extraordinary things? That's this devotional.

If you want to make a difference, you really just long to say, God, use me, use me in ways greater than right now. This devotional will take you 25 days to an extraordinary faith. Check it out. Thanks, Chip. Well, this devotional called Leave Ordinary Behind is written by Chip's friend and fellow pastor, Lance Witt. For a limited time, you'll find this brand new resource discounted when you go to livingontheedge.org or tap special offers on the Chip Ingram map.

For additional information, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. As we close today's program, I have to tell you, we've gotten to the first half that sort of lays it out and we're right to the edge. But what we haven't really discussed is, well, how do you discover who you really are? We've learned how the influences make us who we think we are. We've seen how it's happened in the life of Moses. And I would just observe, now think about this, when God wanted Moses to learn who he really was, he allowed a failure to occur. I mean, God could have prevented something, but Moses makes a big mistake. He allowed a period of time to happen and then an event that sparked this reevaluation of who he was.

And in his case, it was a burning bush. For you, it might be someone walked out on you, or it might be a child's in the hospital, or it might be you lost your job, or it might be your house is upside down and you're realizing, oh God, I need your help. And that's leading you to begin to explore a deeper relationship with God and you just happened to catch me today and you're realizing, wow, this is big. I need to know who I am. In our next broadcast, we're going to really talk about how specifically you can learn that.

And so please, if you can't get it at this time, the same time on the radio, you can get it on the podcast. But here's what I would tell you. You want to get some action right now and get some help. Go to livingontheedge.org and there is a video there that talks about a sober self-assessment and it will start you on a journey of thinking clearly, accurately of who God really made you to be. And here's what I'm going to tell you. What you're going to discover, it's great. You are different in a very positive and wonderful way than anyone else on the planet.

And it's for a reason. Go discover who you are by the grace of God. As part of the ongoing ministry of Living on the Edge, we've got a study tool for you called R12 Online. These short videos and interactive tools are designed for deeper life application of Romans Chapter 12. The sober self-assessment video Chip just mentioned is part of this online collection that you'll find helpful as a companion study to our current series Momentum. So I hope you'll check it out at livingontheedge.org slash R12. That's livingontheedge.org slash R12. Well, for Chip and the entire team here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.