I Am Known by Faith

Why is it so important for us to be authentically known and to authentically know others? Why do relationships feel a tension expressed often in exasperation with phrases like, “You don’t even know who I am!” or “I don’t even know who you are anymore!” It is because being known and knowing others is one of the unique aspects of what it means to be human. In fact, that personal knowledge we have of others and we allow others to have of us has a lot to do with our identity.

In our current series at Eastbrook Church, “Who Am I?“, we are exploring biblical answers to questions about our identity as human beings. This past weekend I explored the ways in which knowing is so important to us grasping a sense of personal identity. Specifically, I addressed the importance of being known by God as a fundamental element of our ability to answer the question, “who am I?”

You can view the message video and an expanded sermon outline below. You can follow the entire series at our web-site, through the Eastbrook app, or through our audio podcast.

What is personal identity and how is it formed?

1. Outward – the porous self
2. Inward – the buffered self
3. Upward – the God-ward self

Knowing and Being Known in the Bible

• factual knowledge
• relational knowledge
• Jeremiah 9:23-24; John 17:3; Galatians 4:8-9; 1 Cor 8:3; 13:12

Belonging to God [Numbers 16:5; 2 Timothy 2:19]

• OT: created by God; belonging to God (Numbers 16:5)
• NT: in Christ belonging to God (2 Timothy 2:19)
• “God is closer to me than I am to myself” – Meister Eckhart

Chosen by God [Deuteronomy 7:6; Romans 8:28-29]

• OT: Abraham and covenant with Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6)
• NT: chosen in Jesus (Romans 8:28-29)
• “What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it – the fact that he knows me. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is not a moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.” – J. I. Packer[1]

Child of God [Exodus 4:22-23; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; John 1:12]

• OT: Exodus and David (Exodus 4:22-23)
• NT: in Christ becoming part of the family of God (Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; John 1:12)

Responding by Faith

• decision of faith (belonging to God)
• baptism as a reflection of my faith (chosen by God)
• living as one known by faith (child of God)
• sharing the faith with others still searching (messenger of God)

[1] J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 20^th anniversary edition (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 41-42.