Hi, my name is Monica and I’m David’s wife, mom to Emily, Rachel, and Samuel, a member of Cross Community Church, homemaker, daughter, sister, friend, writer, Bible study leader, Bible teacher, and chief dog-walker in our household. While all of those things are true, have you noticed that when we introduce ourselves - we like to lead with titles, names of family members, or other adjectives which will describe things about us?
Why do we do that? Perhaps to give context to how we spend our time, to tell something about us, to make ourselves feel important or to create a visual of how needed we are. And it might even be so we project a certain image to another person we are meeting. What will they think about me as a person based on how I introduce myself?
The funny thing is that the titles we tend to use don’t necessarily describe who we are as a person. What our deepest essence is, what our gifts and talents are, or what our personality is like. Titles and descriptions are somewhat surface level and may not even capture the most important things about us.
Friend, the most important thing about us is if we are servants of Jesus Christ! Our identity comes from and is secure in Him alone. Not in what we do for Him, but in being with Him. This can be easy to acknowledge but difficult to be content with. We want to do things for Him! We want to be needed, purposeful, intentional, and useful. But, when we look at the title, role, or nametag as more valuable - we are on shaky ground where we may start to feel that our actions change how God feels about us and make us more necessary to Him.
The God of the universe does not need anyone of us or anything else to accomplish His purposes! He allows us to be His tools because He knows that it grows us in dependence on Him and shapes our hearts to worship Him. It brings growth to us and glory to Him!
I love how the book of James opens – “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.” (James 1:1, ESV) He tells us very little about himself and his role, title, personality, gifts or talents. But he tells us absolutely the most important information we could ever need to know about himself - He belongs to Christ.
James had qualifications to share and he could’ve name-dropped his brother Jesus! But instead of saying James, brother of Jesus, influential leader in the early church, witnessed the resurrection in person, and Chairman of the Jerusalem Council - he introduces himself to us as the servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A servant implies submission, being under the authority and rule of another, a place of humility and a posture of relying on a stronger, greater leader for guidance and wisdom. He is not asking for any special favors just because of what family he was born into, nor in regard to anything that God has allowed him to do for the kingdom.
Paul takes this even further in Philippians 3:1-11 where he describes his credentials and then says how worthless they are in light of knowing Christ.
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh – though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else things he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness form God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Think about the role you have in your local church. You may be a regular attender, a member, an active part of ministry teams with roles and titles, or even on staff. God may be using you in a congregation of 10 or 2,000. And these roles and leadership opportunities are such a gift not only to those able to serve, but to those who are being served. However, they must not be our goal, our prize, our reward, our identity, or our savior.
What happens when you take the nametag off? Will your walk with the Lord still be the same? Still be enough? Dear sister, it must be! Eternity with Christ is our goal, our prize, our reward. And God sent His only Son to the earth to die for our sins to give us a new identity and become our Savior!
It must be enough for us to be a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ before we are anything else. This is the only lasting and true identity we can ever have. When we have this, we have everything else! We know that no matter what roles change, what nametags we put on and take off during our lives, HE is enough!
Our contentment in serving the Lord Jesus Christ means that even if not one other living soul knows what our gifts are, what talents He has entrusted to us, how He has wired our personality, or how He may use us - it will still be enough to use these things in the quiet of our hearts and souls to seek, worship, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ!
Our identity as servants of the Lord Jesus are a beautiful testimony to a world in desperate need of a Savior. As I walk through a season of transition and am struggling with identity - I’m reminding myself of these gospel truths as well.
When we are in places of leadership - remember that those you serve as you serve the Lord, have an identity in Christ behind any title or role they hold. When we are in places of quiet and not serving publicly - remember that our identity is in Christ not in any title or role we do not hold. Our identity does not change with position, title, or role. We are image bearers of the Living Christ!
Imagine the conversations we might have by introducing ourselves as a servant of the Lord Jesus! He is right there in the conversation immediately. And it is the truest and most important thing we could ever say about ourselves.
I’m preaching to myself here - maybe to your heart too? We don’t need to explain who we are with titles, roles, or accomplishments - if we truly believe Jesus is enough - then that is true for our identity as well.
There certainly may be a time and place for providing context - making a phone call and identifying yourself on the phone by where you work, go to school, or worship. But if we find that we need to provide a list of qualifications to our introductions then we may be tempted to chase the accomplishments over resting in the Savior.
If I could just earn this degree, I would be qualified.
If my children would just say or do this, I would look like a good parent.
If I was more prepared, I would feel more adequate at my job.
If this season was not filled with suffering, then I would have more joy.
If I earned this title, then I would be fulfilled.
Absolutely every one of those statements above is a lie and will not satisfy us. The only if/then in Jesus’ economy is if you call on the name of the Lord, then you will be saved! He satisfies, He saves, He gives us a new identity, He calls us His! That is the nametag I want to wear proudly and never take off!
These are all things I've wrestled with especially recently in stepping away from a titled position on our church staff. It is hard to explain what I'm doing right now and hard to rest in it sounding like enough. But let's try that beginning intro one more time... Hi friends, I'm Monica Wilkinson, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. My identity is in Christ. My only hope is Jesus Christ. The most important thing in my life is Christ.
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