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This week’s class is part 2 of the session we started last week on the “Question of Identity” that is so magnified in our culture today. As Christians, it is more important than ever to know what we believe, and why we believe it, and then apply that to who we are on a consistent basis. When we speak about our identity today, many people are looking inside, instead of looking outside and upward. We tend to focus on self instead of God and others. This is not to say that there are people who do not need help in this area, but there may be some alternative ways of understanding the issue. This week we are looking at some specific details of thought from a Biblical Christian Worldview.

Watch this week’s class presentation on this topic:

Presentation Notes

A Case for Christianity

Session Four: The Question of Identity, Part 2

REVIEW AND DISCUSS

Prayer cards: Take a minute and write your name on the index card provided, and add any special prayer request you might have. Exchange cards at the end of the class this evening.

At your table groups, do the following:

1.  What are the categories for the 39 books of the Old Testament, and the books within each?

2.  Recite the Memory Verse(s) and the Armor of God from Ephesians 6:13-18:

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:11-12 (NASB)

Armor of God:

1.  Belt of truth

2.  Breastplate of righteousness

3.  Feet fitted with the gospel of peace

4.  Shield of faith

5.  Helmet of salvation

6.  Sword of the Spirit = the Word of God

7.  Pray in the Spirit on all occasions

Apologetics Presentation

THE APOLOGETICS ROADMAP
The Christian Worldview has the best evidential answers, beyond a reasonable doubt, to life’s most important questions…

1. Why are you a Christian (and not of some other belief)?
2. What is a Christian Worldview (and does it affect your daily life)?
3. What is the importance of Truth in a worldview (versus relativism)?
4. Does God exist, and where did I come from? (The origin question)
5. If God exists, then why is there Evil and Suffering in the world? (The problem of evil)
6. Who am I, and what is my purpose in life? (The question of identity)
7. Are miracles possible (versus naturalistic explanations)?
8. How do we know the Bible is the Word of God? (Reliability and Transmission over time)
9. Who is Jesus (who do I say Jesus is)?
10. What is my destiny (what happens after we die)?

The Question of Identity:

In the beginning, God…

^“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰ and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹ God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Genesis 1:26-31 (NASB)

What does it mean to be created in God’s Image?

God created humans in His image; no other living thing was created with these special attributes:

• Image of God, a lesser model of the Trinity: Body, soul and spirit
• Rulership over the earth
• Relationship with God and each other
• Ability to love – freewill choice
• Living life with eternity in mind

^“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NASB)

When God created man in His own image, He purposed that humankind would resemble God in some specific ways (adapted from creation.com):

1. It was not a physical likeness, but…

• Although God is spirit (John 4:24) and does not have a body like a man, when He appeared visibly to men according to the Old Testament record, He did so in the form of a human body (e.g. Genesis 18:1-2; 32:24, 28,30). 
• Dr Henry Morris writes: ‘There is something about the human body therefore, which is uniquely appropriate to God’s manifestation of Himself, and (since God knows all His works from the beginning of the world—Acts 15:18), He must have designed man’s body with this in mind. Accordingly He designed it, not like the animals, but with an erect posture, with an upward gazing countenance, capable of facial expressions corresponding with emotional feelings, and with a brain and tongue capable of articulate, symbolic speech.’
• Furthermore, the human body was the form in which God the Son would be incarnated or ‘made in the likeness of men’ (Philippians 2:7). Thus, God made man in that bodily form which He Himself would one day assume—the form in which He wished to reveal Himself.

2. It was a mental likeness.

• God endowed man with intellectual ability which was and is far superior to that of any animal. Thus, man was given a mind capable of hearing and understanding God’s communication with him, emotions capable of responding to God in love and devotion, and a will which enabled him to choose whether or not to obey God. Man was thus equipped, not only to ‘love God and obey Him forever’, but also to do God’s work on earth—to be His regent and govern the creation in co-operation with his Creator.
• This is seen in God’s command to Adam and Evethat they exercise dominion over the earth and its animals (Genesis 1:26,28), in Adam’s task of cultivating the garden (Genesis 2:15), and in the statement that Adam gave names to certain of the animals on the earth (Genesis 2:19-20).
• Man’s intellectual gifts are further seen in his ability to design things and then make them, to appreciate beauty, to compose glorious music, to paint pictures, to write, to count to large numbers and do mathematics, to control and use energy for his own benefit (e.g. fire, electricity, nuclear power), to organize, to reason, to make decisions, to be self-conscious, to laugh at himself, and to think abstractly.

3. It was a moral likeness.

• Man only, of all God’s creatures, has a spirit or God-consciousness, that is, a capacity for knowing God and holding spiritual communion with Him through prayer, praise, and worship. Since the Fall (Genesis chapter 3), man has had inborn moral awareness of good and evil, or conscience, which he perceives in his spirit.
• Man was made not only negatively innocent (that is, without sin), but positively holy, otherwise Adam could not have had communion with God, who cannot look upon iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). This is further confirmed by Genesis 1:31, when God affirms that everything He had made (including man) was ‘very good’, which would not have been true if man had been morally imperfect.

4. It was a social likeness.

• God’s social nature and intrinsic love is seen in the doctrine of the Trinity. God—who islove—created man with a social nature and a need for love. The statement in Genesis 3:8 that ‘they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ suggests that Adam and Eve enjoyed fellowship and communion with God, perhaps on a daily basis.
• God also provided for human fellowship and love in a very special and intimate way. Before He created Eve He said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him’ (Genesis 2:18). He then made Eve out of a bone taken from Adam (Genesis 2:21-24), a fact which Jesus used in His debate with the Pharisees to uphold the sanctity of marriage and the intimacy of love within the marriage relationship (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-8).

Concluding Thoughts:

• When God created the vegetation and the animals, He made them all ‘after its/their kind’ (the phrase occurs ten times in Genesis 1:11-25). When He created Adam, He made him after the God-kind — in the image and likeness of God (cf. Acts 17:28).
• After the Fall, man is still said to be in God’s image (Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7) and likeness (James 3:9). However, this image was defiled by man’s rebellion at the Fall, and all aspects of God’s image were tarnished. Nevertheless, these aspects were perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was and is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15), and ‘the express image’ of God (Hebrews 1:3), both in His life on earth and in Heaven.
• The Apostle Paul says that we are transformed or renewed into the image of God by the Gospel, and that this image is then ‘in righteousness and true holiness’ (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24). This is not something that the natural man can bring about by his own efforts, but is the result of our ‘receiving Christ’ in faith and repentance (John 1:12; Galatians 2:20).
• It is accomplished by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5; Romans 8:28-29), who takes up His abode within God’ children (1 Corinthians 3:1; 6:19). ‘God is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9).

Who Am I?
Solving the Identity Puzzle

To find our identity in today’s world, we are taught that we should go deep into the person, or the flesh (the inward look), for …

• Our basest instincts such as lust and pride
• Our feelings – how we “feel” about ourselves and, or what has “happened to us”
• Our family of origin, ethnicity, nationality, culture or line of work
• Our personality type and, or perceived gender

Instead of going deep into Scripture, and God’s purpose, for our identity

How should Christians describe their identity, and how can we recognize a true Christian?

• We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1, 2)
• We are fallen humans prone to evil (Genesis 3), so we must be born again (John 3)
• We trust in the promises of Jesus and strive to please Him (Matt. 5, John 3, 14-16, Rev. 19-22)
• We display fruits of the Spirit instead of fruits of the world (Galatians 5)
• We live in this world, but we are not of this world (Romans 12)

In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-16), Jesus spoke to the blessings of those who identify as…

1. Poor in spirit
2. Mourning
3. Meek
4. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness
5. Merciful
6. Pure in heart
7. Peacemakers
8. Persecuted because of righteousness
9. Persecuted, insulted and falsely accused because of Jesus
10. Salt and light of the world

The Bible defines the difference:

Identifying with our flesh – the inward look

^“16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. ¹⁹ Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, ²¹ envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Galatians 5:16-21 (NASB)

Identifying with the Spirit of God – the outward/upward look

^“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”

Galatians 5:22-31 (NASB)

What is God’s purpose for the image bearer?

In addition to striving for characteristics that identify with the Spirit of God, we have purpose…

When asked: “What is the Greatest Commandment?”

“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.””

Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)

The last command Jesus gave to His Disciples

(“The Great Commission”)

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

Teach the children

^“4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NASB)

Going Deeper

Books and presentations…

1. “Who Am I? Solving the Identity Puzzle” by Martin Iles
2. “Love Thy Body. Answering Hard Questions About Life and Sexuality” by Nancy Pearcey
3. “Don’t Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship” by Sean McDowell
4. Any work by the following: Rosario Butterfield; Becket Cook; and Christopher Yuan

A Bible that’s falling apart, usually belongs to someone who isn’t!” 

BIBLE STUDY

Bible Study Survey Format

1. Author: Who wrote the book and when?

(Include anything you can find about the author and when it was written)

2. Audience: Who was it written to?

(Include anything you can find about the people, the culture or societal norms, of that time period)

3. Purpose: Why was it written?

(Include anything you can find about their circumstances and what was, or had been, going on in their world at that time)

4. Content: What is in each chapter?

Basic:  Write out chapter by chapter titles.Going Deeper: Add a short summary under your titles, 3-5 sentencesAdvanced: Look for these things to put in your summary notes: a. Is there anything in this chapter that relates to one of the Covenants (Adamic, Abrahamic or Mosaic)? b. Where’s Jesus? Is there anything in this chapter that foreshadows/pictures Jesus? c. The Shelf: Note any questions or a’has you have about the chapter.

5. Application:  Always done last, after the content of the book is complete.

Discuss:  How does this book apply to us today? Are there lessons learned; are there reasons we should know this history; does it help us understand God’s character and love for His people and His foreshadowing the promise of His Son? Other comments…

LET’S PRACTICE!

Review and Discuss your homework from this past week:

Discuss your study in the book of Deuteronomy chapters 27-34, based on what level you worked from: This would conclude #4 – Content from the Bible survey format…

• Basic: Write a title for each chapter (could include more than one depending on topics in that chapter).
• Going Deeper: Take notes to summarize the chapter (no more than three to five sentences). However, you can add to your summaries if you glean something important from your study partners.
• Advanced: Look for these things to put in your summary notes:

a. Is there anything in the chapter that relates to one of the Covenants (Adamic, Abrahamic or Mosaic)?

b. Where’s Jesus? Is there anything in the chapter that foreshadows/pictures Jesus?

c. The Shelf: Note any questions or a’has you have about the chapter.

5. Application:  Always done last, after the content of the book is complete. Discuss:  How does this book apply to us today? Are there lessons learned; are there reasons we should know this history; does it help us understand God’s character and love for His people and His foreshadowing the promise of His Son? Other comments…

The following are example answers you can use to add to your own work, or use as a leader’s guide:

Chapter 27: Consequences of obedience and disobedience; The Curses on Mount Ebal

Moses gives a command to make an alter with the words of the Law of the LORD when they crossed the Jordan to the Promised Land, and set it up on Mount Ebal, so that they would remember. Moses told them that ½ of Israel should stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and ½ of Israel should stand of Mount Ebal for the curse that would come upon anyone who broke the Laws of the LORD, and these warning and curses are continued on through chapter 28.

C = All of these laws are part of the Mosaic Covenant.

Chapter 28: Blessings at Gerizim; Consequences of Disobedience

The first part of the chapter lists the promises of blessings for faithfully following the LORD. Then the warnings and curses continue through this chapter making this not only a list of warnings, but prophetic in nature because it will come to pass upon the Israelites’ future going forward through the Old Testament. They were warned and given hundreds of years, but unfortunately will fall in siege to other nations. In verse 66 we read specifically about them being scatter among other nations, and we know that happened, and that they did not come back to being a nation until 1948.

C = All of these laws for obedience versus disobedience are part of the Mosaic Covenant.

JF = The only one who could be perfect, and perfectly fulfill the Law, was Jesus; yet He bore the curse, redeeming believers from the consequences of unrighteousness.

Chapter 29: A Call for Commitment to God: Moses’ Third Address; The Covenant in Moab

This chapter describes another part of the Mosaic Covenant made in the land of Moab besides the one He made with them at Horeb. Moses reviews some of their history so far in the wilderness, and how the LORD was with them. This includes warning this new generation to follow all that God commands them, so that it will go well with them in the Promised Land.

Note: There is a prophecy in the warning for their future generations (that we know happens) in that they will be “uprooted”. From their land, and the land will lay desolate.

C = In verse 13 Moses emphasizes the fulfillment of the “Nation” promise in the Abrahamic Covenant.

Chapter 30: Restoration Promised; Choose Life

In this chapter we get a continuation of the covenant promise through Moses of blessings and curses depending on how the Nation of Israel responds to the Commands and follows the LORD. Here there is a promise of restoration if they fall away, but yet repent and again call on the Name of the LORD. There is also a promise that those who are enemies of the Nation of Israel will be afflicted and cursed. The people are encouraged by Moses to “choose life” through following the LORD with their whole hearts, minds and souls.

Note: We know the people did not follow the LORD later on in their history and the curse happened during the time of the Babylonian captivity, and the people are in exile for 70 years, then are allowed to return to the Land. We also know that this happened again in 70 AD and that the Nation of Israel did not return again to the Land until 1948.

JF = We see the promise of salvation in verse 6 where circumcision of the heart is promised; only Jesus can give the new heart to believers in Christ. This alludes to the giving of the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised, also seen in verses 12-14.

Chapter 31: The Change in Leadership: Moses’ Last Days; Moses’ Last Counsel; Israel Will Fall Away; Joshua is Commissioned

This chapter begins the final days of Moses as he is now 120 years old, and will not cross over the Jordan to the Promised Land. He assures them that the LORD will cross over ahead of them, protecting them, and that Joshua is the one who will lead them. Moses promises God’s protection and inaugurates Joshua as their leader (taking his place). Moses also gives a strong encouragement to teach the children (verses 10-13) and every 7 years to read the Law out-loud to the whole assembly. The LORD again warns, and predicts, the falling away of future generations as He commissions Joshua.

Note: The standout verse over and over is “be strong and courageous” and this was in the fact that God would surely go before them and His ever-present protection and guidance was meant to bolster their confidence as it can ours today.

JF = Verse 3 tells us that Joshua would cross ahead of the people, just as Moses says that the LORD would go before them. Joshua’s life and service gives us many pictures that foreshadow the person of Jesus, and the Deity of Jesus as He goes before us.

Chapter 32: The Song of Moses

In this chapter we read the song of Moses (given by God in the previous chapter v. 19) as he speaks it to the entire assembly. It includes praise to God; a reference to God as the “Rock;” warnings; remembrance of what God had done; God’s specific provision over the years; a reminder of their unfaithfulness many times; more warnings; God’s compassion and vengeance on His adversaries; and provision of atonement for His land and His people. Then God tells Moses to go up, and that he would be gathered to his people (die), however, he would be allowed to see the Land at a distance.

C = Abrahamic Covenant with the protection of His Land and His people.

JF = Jesus is referred to as the “Rock” and it will be Jesus who provides final atonement for all believers.

Chapter 33: The Blessing of Moses

In this chapter Moses speaks a blessing over each tribe of the Nation of Israel. God, through Moses, gives a different blessing to each tribe, many of which are based on their needs and talents, some of which is based on their faithfulness, or lack thereof.

JF = From the Jesus Bible: “At the end of his life, Moses could die with the assurance that God would lead His people into the Promised Land and that his work had not been in vain. God provides grace-filled second chances to all those who, like Moses (and the Nation of Israel) and a host of others, have a questionable past. Jesus’ work assures us that, no matter what mistakes we have made, God will surely keep His promises and lead us into the eternal rest He has secured for His people.”

Chapter 34: The Death of Moses

In this final chapter we read about the death of Moses, and how God showed him all of the Promised Land before he died. We also read that God Himself buried the body of Moses, and that no one know his burial place. We also read that the people mourned the loss of Moses. Lastly, we read about Joshua, being filled with the Holy Spirit, taking over the leadership role as Israel’s history will move into a new phase.

Note: We are told that “no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.”

C = The Abrahamic Covenant and the Land Promise is in view and Moses’ last day involved God showing him this land in its entirety.

JF = As we saw earlier, there is a promise of a “prophet like Moses” to come. From the Jesus Bible: “The people looked to him as a mediator between them and God and as a leader who helped them to follow God’s ways. Following his death the people of Israel continued to anticipate a prophet who would be like Moses, a longing that was left unfulfilled until the birth of Jesus (Acts 3:22-26).”

5.  Application: How can this book and its teachings apply to us today? Are there lessons learned; are there reasons we should know this history; does it help us understand God’s character and love for His people and His foreshadowing the promise of His Son, etc.? (Answers will vary, but can include personal, cultural or timeless teachings for us today)

Importance today:

• We are not under these Laws, or these rituals and regulations, because all has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 9 and 10); however, studying this history and the laws point to, and help us understand, the different aspects of the meaning of Jesus’ life, ministry, sacrificial death and resurrection.
• We can learn much from how the people of Israel were obedient, and many times disobedient to God and His Word, and the differences between the generations, even within one generation.
• We learn more about God’s love and patience with His people. Even though His love is great for them, He is a Holy and righteous God and cannot affirm unholiness and disobedience, it must be justly punished. Therefore, we see over and over again God’s warning and desire for His people to be faithful to Him and His covenant. We see His promise of blessing and protection for their faithfulness and obedience; and we see His promise of discipline that would be severe and based upon the people’s outright rejection of the LORD and their turning to follow the idols and ways of the pagan nations that will be around them.
• Deuteronomy, along with the rest of the Torah, sets the stage for the coming history books from Joshua through the times of the prophets; and even though God will discipline them, He will never leave them and stands ready for their repentance as evidenced by the giving of His Son Jesus, who would pay the ultimately price to redeem them and us.

SUMMER BREAK HOMEWORK:

Bible study is a lifetime practice, never stop because something else will replace it!

Remember our motto:

A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t!

Homework options:

1)  Using the Bible study format continue on through the Old Testament history with the book of Joshua – go at your own pace, but make daily reading the goal.

2)  Get the “Daily Audio Bible” App and follow their daily readings in either a regular format, a chronological format or use their kids daily reading and study with your kids! Become part of their prayer community and interact as a prayer warrior for people around the world, or just be a silent partner with them, it’s free!

Continue to join us each week for more Christian Apologetics!