Who am I? "AM and Am Not” 9-14-25

Overview

Who Am I? "I AM" and "I Am Not"

"Who am I?" is a question that surfaces at every stage of life—when our convictions shift, when a job ends, when children leave home, when a spouse dies. We often try to answer it through self-reflection, but self-reflection alone cannot give a true answer. Even Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing his poem "Who Am I?" from a Nazi prison cell, wrestled with the gap between how others perceived him and how he understood himself. He finally laid the question down with the words, "Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine." Our identity is not something we discover by looking inward; it is something God reveals.

What God reveals in His Word is twofold. First, we are sinners through and through—in thought, word, and deed, in what we have done and left undone—deserving His eternal judgment. Second, by grace and mercy, God has redeemed us through the cross and shed blood of Christ, sealed by the empty tomb, and delivered to us in the waters of Baptism. That is our core identity: a baptized child of God. So often we define ourselves by what we do—teacher, truck driver, homemaker—and add "Christian" alongside. But the order matters. We are Christians who happen to do these things, not the other way around.

In John 8:48-59, Jesus is locked in a sharp confrontation with His opponents, who demand, "Who do you claim to be?" His answer is staggering: "Before Abraham was, I am." They immediately picked up stones, because they understood. Jesus was reaching back to Exodus 3:13-14, where God revealed His name to Moses at the burning bush: "I AM WHO I AM." As Luther observed, God is not a "has been" or a "will be"—He simply is: self-sufficient, timeless, unchangeable, dependent on nothing. In claiming the divine name, Jesus declared Himself God in the flesh.

Here is where our identity comes into focus. The original temptation in Genesis 3 was the lie, "You will be like God." We still fall for it—whenever we act as though we are omnipotent (we can fix anything), omniscient (we know everything), or omnipresent (our will must be done everywhere). But God is God, and we are not. He is the great "I AM"; we are the small "I am not." That truth doesn't crush our identity—it frees it. Christ bore even our God-playing sin to the cross, forgives us, and continually reminds us through His Word who He is and whose we are. Like Bonhoeffer, we can let go of others' perceptions and our own inner wrestling, and rest in this: you are forgiven, loved, redeemed, and claimed in the waters of Baptism. That is who you are. He is God, and we are not—and that is very good news.

Transcript

Jesus is Lord and we can run into the arms of God. 3s

Receive O Lord the praise of your people. 9s

As we open up your Word, we are confident that the voice that we hear is your voice. 14s

And we proclaim Jesus is Lord. 20s

In your precious name, we pray. 26s

Amen. 30s

Would you open up your Bibles, please with me, to our study this morning, John 8th chapter. 31s

If you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that in the New Testament, 37s

page 89, John 8th chapter. 42s

Who am I? 49s

Who am I? 52s

That is not an altogether uncommon question. 55s

Is it? 60s

It is a question that can be said amongst the various stages of life. 62s

It comes from the lips of the young, it comes from the lips of the old. 69s

It is that question of self reflection. 75s

Who am I? 82s

Sometimes we ask it when we find our thoughts have changed on something. 89s

When we've heard a different perspective and we say, you know, I put my own perspective 96s

under the scrutiny here. 104s

And I've changed my mind about that. 107s

It might surprise us and we say, who am I? 111s

Who am I? 116s

Sometimes it can come when there's a job transition. 119s

When perhaps you move from one field to another or something happens in terms of employment 125s

and that which you have fixed your identity. 132s

So firmly upon all of a sudden the ground underneath you doesn't feel so firm anymore. 136s

And you say, I don't know who I am anymore. 144s

I just don't know who I am anymore. 147s

Or maybe you move into a different phase of life. 154s

Perhaps you've raised children and now the last one has left and you've entered into the 160s

emptiness time of life. 167s

And all of a sudden that parenting, well, it's changed. 170s

It was changing all over the years as your children became more of your friends as they entered 175s

into adulthood. 183s

But now there's a different kind of phase that that emptiness phase and one can ask, 185s

who am I? Who am I? 192s

Or you lose a spouse and all of a sudden life has changed. 197s

And you start to wonder about your identity and what the future holds and what life means now. 204s

And you say, who am I? 212s

That question cannot be answered by self reflection. 222s

I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran theologian, 1940s. 231s

He was in a prison camp awaiting his execution and he wrote a poem. 237s

In the poem is entitled, who am I? Who am I? 241s

And what he was reflecting on, he was reflecting on how other people perceived him and how he understood 246s

himself and the incongruity between those two worlds. 256s

He said, people perceived me this way, but but I know myself inside and 263s

those two worlds don't seem to be in harmony all the time. And so he wrote this poem, 270s

who am I? But you see, answering the question of who am I is not a question that can be answered 278s

by self reflection. It can only be answered by divine revelation. 290s

And what is the revelation that God gives us in His Word? The revelation that God gives us in His Word 298s

is that we all of us are sinners through and through. Thought word indeed, what we've done and what we have left 305s

undone. We are sinners through and through. What scripture reveals to us about who we are is that we 312s

deserve the eternal condemnation of God. That's hell. What scripture reveals to us is that God 321s

out of His grace and mercy has redeemed us through the cross of Christ and through the shed blood of 332s

Christ that sacrifice accepted because the tomb is empty. We have been reconciled. We have been 341s

redeemed. We've been bought back through the blood of Christ and that victory is given to us in the 349s

waters of baptism and we're washed in the promises of God and we are given the identity of a 358s

baptized child of God. So often we define our identities, but what it is that we do. 366s

You may be a teacher, you may be a truck driver, you may be a homemaker, but so often we understand 376s

our identity by saying, this is what I do and I'm a Christian. Instead of I'm a Christian and this is 385s

what I happen to be doing. See there's a fundamental difference. One is rooted in the identity 399s

that is ours and the waters of baptism. That is who we are. That's who we are. It's not what you do. 408s

It's not the conflict that we can have between how the world may perceive us and how we are wrestling 423s

with the reality of our own sin in our lives. The identity, the core truth is who we are in the waters 432s

of baptism. That's the answer to the question. In this nine month sermon series on the red letter 443s

words of Jesus we started last week and we enter in now into a mini series within the larger series 458s

and I've entitled that I am you are. What is God say about himself and what's the implication 468s

for who we are? We're going to examine that for these weeks. Our core identity in baptism 480s

and we're going to examine aspects of the truth of our core identity and it starts 489s

actually with a negative statement in scripture. Who do you think you are? 506s

Never use that phrase. Never heard it. Who do you think you are? That's what really 518s

undergirds are text for today in John the 8th chapter. It's a difficult conversation that's 525s

occurring between the Jews and Jesus. Look at verse 48. The Jews answered him, Jesus, 531s

are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon a little bit of a back story here. 539s

Jews hated Samaritans. I mean really hated Samaritans. So to call Jesus a Samaritan, 549s

there's a dagger in that and then to associate the demonic with Jesus is really ugly. It's really ugly. 563s

Jesus responds. Verse 49. Jesus answered, I do not have a demon but I honor my father and you 577s

dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. 585s

Jesus didn't come to a mass glory unto himself. We see in scripture that Jesus was submissive to the 594s

father. He came and took on flesh. He humbled himself to go to the cross and bear our sin. 601s

Jesus didn't come for his own glory. He came to seek and to save the lost. 610s

Jesus responds. Verse 41. Very truly I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death. 618s

What he's talking about here is eternal life through his name, through faith, in him. 630s

Remember, when we die, we don't go out of existence. There is a literal reality. It's either heaven or hell. 641s

So when Jesus is talking about eternal death here, he's not talking about simply going out of existence here. 651s

He's talking about being redeemed from the reality of hell itself. 660s

Well, I would just think this is ridiculous. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Look at verse 52. 667s

Did you said to him, now we know you have a demon. Abraham died so did the prophets. Yet you say 674s

whoever keeps my word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? 680s

The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be? Who do you think? 688s

You are. Jesus responds. Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing, 696s

it's my father who glorifies me. He of whom you say, he's our God. But you did not know him. 708s

But I know him. If I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him, 716s

and I keep his word. Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. 723s

Remember, Genesis 12, but we studied last week in adult class, Genesis 12, the covenant with Abraham. 734s

Remember, it was three things, land offspring and blessing. The offspring, a great nation, would 741s

have lined with the Lord Jesus Christ. When Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah, remember they 752s

had been unable to have a child and they were, has scripture puts it advanced in years, right? 761s

When they had Isaac Abraham knew that this was the beginning of the fulfillment of the covenant 769s

that God had made because now there's going to be this people and out of the people comes the Messiah. 777s

Verse 57, then the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham 786s

and then he says it. He says it. Verse 58, Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, 795s

before Abraham was, I am, and what was the reaction? Verse 59. So they picked up stones to throw it in, 820s

but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. So why? Why when Jesus said, 842s

I am, why did they say, kill him? Why did they pick up stones then? The answer to that 858s

goes a long way back. All the way back to the book of Exodus, their Moses is tending sheep. 880s

And there's a bush that is burning but it's not being consumed and the Lord calls to 890s

Moses from the bush and the Lord tells Moses that he's seen the plight of the people. He's seen 896s

the suffering here. These were the people, remember, birthed out of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and 903s

on down the line. These are the people out of which the Messiah is going to come. And God says, 911s

I've seen their suffering. Now Moses, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh and you're going to lead 917s

the people out of Egypt. Moses has it in about that, isn't he? And then in verse 13, the scripture 923s

records, but Moses said to God, if I come to the Israelites and say to them, the God of our ancestors 932s

has sent me to you and they asked me, what is His name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, 939s

I am who I am. He said, further, thus you shall say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. 951s

What God is revealing here in Exodus 3rd chapter is His identity. Luther 972s

commenting on these verses, He says, what God is communicating is that He is. That He's not 979s

a has been, He's not a will be, He is in is, that He is absolutely self-sufficient, that He is not 988s

dependent upon anything or any one, that He is timeless, constant, unchangeable, that He is I am. 997s

Verse 14, God said to Moses, I am who I am. He said, further, thus you shall say to the 1014s

Israelites, I am has sent me to you. Okay, back to John 8, verse 58. Jesus said to them, very 1027s

truly I tell you before Abraham was I am. You understand what Jesus is communicating, right? 1039s

Jesus is communicating. I am God in the flesh. That's why they picked up the stones 1051s

to kill Him because He was revealing His identity, that He is God. 1068s

We don't literally pick up stones to throw at God, but we still hurl our rocks. 1089s

You see the scripture tells us back in Genesis 3rd chapter that Satan tempted our first 1104s

parents Adam and Eve and the temptation of Adam and Eve was that they would be, remember 1112s

Satan said, you be like God, oh and that appealed to Adam and Eve, that really appealed to them. 1118s

And so there is then the fourth into sin as they bite into that forbidden fruit because they want 1128s

to be like God. Beloved in our sinfulness we can live out that reality of wanting to be God, 1138s

wanting to be like Him. We can live out that reality by thinking that we can control everything 1155s

in our lives or that we can solve whatever difficulties come into our lives by our own energy 1164s

and ingenuity by our own brain power. And so we can start acting as if we are God when we think 1173s

I'm going to control and change everything in my life because everything is in my 1183s

control we start acting like God. We think that we are God when we have the mistaken understanding 1193s

that we know everything and that we are all powerful we think that we are God when we think that we can 1203s

just be everywhere or when we think yep I want my will to be done. We can think and act out 1211s

the very sin of our first parents when we think we are omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. 1223s

But the light doesn't have to creep in through the window at the beginning of the day 1236s

for more than a few seconds for us to be reminded that God is God and we are not. 1243s

That God is God and we are not. That God is the great I am and we are small case. I am not. 1261s

God is I am and we are not and that aspect surrounds the core truth of our baptismal identity. 1286s

It surrounds it. It is an aspect of our identity to understand who we are not. 1302s

God and His graciousness sends the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross to bear all of our sin upon 1319s

him to pay the debt to reconcile us, to redeem us, to buy us back and the Lord Jesus Christ on the 1329s

cross does exactly that and He carries all of the sins of thought word indeed what we have done 1339s

and what we have left undone and He carries all of the sins of the times when we just act like we are God. 1345s

And He bears it and forgives us and God in His grace and in His mercy continues to come 1360s

through His word continually reminding us that He is God and we are not. 1376s

He is God and we are not. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in that poem, who am I? Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1393s

wrestled in that poem with the perceptions of how others perceived him and also how he understood 1414s

himself and in the end of the poem, in the end of the poem, He just lets it all go and He writes this 1423s

whever I am, thou noest oh God, I am thy. He has lets that wrestling go. He says whever I am. I'm yours. 1434s

And you know me. You know me. He was freed then from what others thought about him. He was freed 1459s

from what he thought about himself and he was freed to enter in a new to the identity that was 1472s

in the waters of baptism that he was known by God. Beloved, you are forgiven and loved and 1482s

redeemed. You have been claimed in the waters of baptism. That's who you are. That's who you are. 1492s

And He is God and we are not. We are not. 1512s