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Don't settle for being a creature. Be self defining. Be your own God. And that, friends, is where our culture has got to. There is no God. So be your own maker. Be whoever you want to be. Construct your own identity.
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In the Book of Judges we read that every man did what was right in his own eyes. Seems like that's what's going on right now, doesn't it? With social media, artificial intelligence and zealous individualism, the very idea of objective truth is being untethered from reality. Where do we fit into this brave new world? And how can we know who we are? Today we'll hear Dr. Michael Reeves from Ligonier's 2026 National Conference as he explores that urgent question. Stay tuned until the end to learn how you can receive a copy of R.C. sproul's book Heroes of the Christian Faith. But right now, what is our identity? Here's Dr. Michael Reeves.
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The human body contains a sufficient amount of fat to make seven cakes of soap. Enough iron to make a medium sized nail, a sufficient amount of phosphorus to equip 2000 match heads, enough sulfur to rid oneself of one's fleas. That was a bit of trivia frequently quoted in pre Nazi Germany. And it shows a simple truth. First reduce humanity and then you can eliminate humanity. Say we are just units of biological mass and you can treat humans as commodities. You can farm them, you can break them down, you can can exterminate them. Well, today we are surrounded by reductive understandings of humanity. And they are not the result of evil men plotting genocide. That's further downstream. They are the result of cutting man off from God. Deny God, and it has to be the case that we are no longer in the image of God. And if we are no longer in the image of God, what are we? Are we mere animals? Mere matters. Does anything really distinguish a human from a cockroach? Do we have any inherent dignity? Who are we now? While Christians shudder at the ethical consequences of denying the image of God, atheist thinkers have seen a golden opportunity. So Jean Paul Sartre put it gleefully like this. He said, there is no human nature since there is no God. Man, he said, is nothing other than what he makes of himself. In other words, when you get rid of the idea that humanity is in the image of God, suddenly we become free to be whoever want to be. Now, Jean Paul Sartre, you're probably glad I didn't try to do the accent. He was not being quite as original as he might have thought. What he offered the world in the 20th century was exactly what the serpent offered the woman in the garden. Deny God, you will not surely die. Your eyes will be opened and you will become as God. Don't settle for being a creature. Be self defining. Be your own God. And that, friends, is where our culture has got to. There is no God. So be your own maker. Be whoever you want to be. Construct your own identity. Perhaps you need to change your body to fit your chosen identity. But you can do that these days. Don't buy into the restrictions of yesterday. Nip Tuck, you're in charge. And slowly we are undoing our creatureliness, edging our way towards immortality, eternal youth and complete self definition. It all sounds so wonderfully liberating. And everywhere we're told how positive this is. Films show us heroes who throw off the dreary expectations of others to discover who they really are. Adverts and self help books tell us, be your own. Whatever. Online people curate their identity. With enough filters and editing, they have created who they wish they were. It does sound liberating, and that's the narrative that it is. In reality, people are left bewildered, anxious and hollowed out. For while it sounds grand to define ourselves, we don't know how. Without God to ground our being, there is no fixed reference point for us anymore. And so how do we define ourselves if we're not defined in the image of God? Shall we define ourselves by our sexual preference? Is that what's ultimate about us? Should we define ourselves by our achievements or our victimhood? Is that who we are? Do I define myself by what others think of me? That's a very popular one. Get enough likes or followers to feel significant. Build a sense of worth on the appreciation of others. It's a hamster wheel and it cannot give you what you chase. Fulfillment there can never be reached. And others see that and they daren't trust their identity. The opinions of others. Instead they say, no, no, don't mind the opinions of others, because your opinion is the only one that matters. In other words, you should say, I'm special, just as I am. I'm special to whom? Well, to me. I'm the only one that matters. But it's like trying to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. You're not actually special to anyone else. You're dependent on your own constant self stroking, self affirmation. And it all gets a bit tiring. Your identity is okay only as long as you're feeling okay about it. And this is the problem today, turning away from God as the ground of our identity. In our culture, we don't know what the ground of our identity is anymore. We have an identity crisis. People without any sense of self wondering what is the point? We don't know who we are or why we are. We've become a hollow people and the vacuum hurts. We thought we were liberating ourselves by getting rid of God in the image of God, and in fact we were just casting ourselves adrift. Now, because of this culture wide identity crisis, churches have become full of sermons and messages about identity. People have been told, find your identity in Christ. And we've had a lot of this for many years now. And it's not worked because the very way that is framed assumes the cultural narrative. It assumes that our identity is something we must construct. Identity is still a matter of your choice. You choose to find your identity in Christ. So some choose to find their identity in their work or their sexuality. You find yours in Christ. And so your identity is then treated even in the church, as something you must work at. Finding my identity in Christ has become a task and I'm not very good at it. The culture presses all these different identities on us and we struggle to find the right one. And we don't really believe any of them anyway because we know that the one we went for was just the matter of my whim at the time. And what's that worth? There's the problem. No God, no image of God. So who are we? And so we turn in on ourselves to define ourselves. But I wonder if you've ever considered the extraordinary irony of a navel gazing culture. We spend all this time gazing at our navels and we don't spot the one thing that our navels very clearly tell us, you know what it is your navel tells you. You are not self made, you never were. You were born of your mother. You didn't choose to be born. You didn't choose to look as you do, to be born a man or a woman, to have the strengths and weaknesses that you have. You didn't choose any of that. You didn't choose your name, you didn't choose your identity, you were born with it. In other words, your navel teaches you a vital theological lesson. It teaches what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19. You are not your own. And while the world recoils at that thought, you are not your own. We're going to see now why that is wonderful good news. No, you are not your own. You are not your own maker, you are not your own preserver. Let's start here first of all, you are not your own. In creation, you were born with an identity. Now, we each were born with our own individual identity. So some were born men, some were born women, some were blessed to be born British, others American. I am so sorry. No, no, to be serious, it is a beautiful thing that in this room are wonderfully represented many different nations and ethnicities. But all humans were born of the one human race. We were all born from the same ultimate parents. And Adam and Eve. Now, what does that mean for our identity? Well, Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day alongside the beasts of the Earth. And it means that in one sense, humans can be classified as animals. We are all the work of the sixth day. And that's why there are biological similarities between humans and other animal life. But of all the other animals, if you go to Genesis 1, Genesis 1:24, of all the other animals, God said, let the Earth bring forth these living creatures. But in Genesis 1:26, he said of humanity, let us make man in our image after our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the Earth. There is a clear distinction between humanity and animals, such that in chapter two of Genesis, no other animal is considered a fit helper for Adam. And this is not just a matter of degree, as if humans are just slightly more advanced or capable. Mankind is created uniquely in the image of God. Now, atheists dislike this. They argue the idea that humanity is set apart in the image of God creates a domineering human centeredness to our view of reality, and that's why we pillage the planet. But that argument is only true if you cut out God. Yes, the argument that we're uniquely in the image of God might make us arrogant if we only compared ourselves to animals. But when we talk about the image of God, it's because we've not cut out God. The whole point is we are in the image of God. And when we consider our identity, first of all, we are comparing ourselves to God. Now, to know we are in the image of God gives each one of us, whatever our situation, a dignity so high we should be astounded. Every human you meet is in the image of God. That is a great dignity. But no, we're not arrogant, because you simply don't know who you are if you don't weigh yourself against God in whose image you are. And that creates the very opposite of arrogance that should make you fall on your knees in humility before your Maker. But what exactly is the image of God that roots our identity? You know, some people think the image of God is really about some ability, some quality we have. Perhaps it's our ability to reason in a way that other animals can't. But, you know, there is a danger with that view. What about those with mental disabilities? Are they disqualified? Do they bear less of God's image? Absolutely not. For in Genesis 5 we read, the children of Adam are born in his own likeness after his image. Simply. To be born of Adam means to be in the image of God. It's not about your capabilities. And yet the image of God is connected to our knowledge. So Paul writes to the Colossians, Colossians 3:10. You've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. But this is not an intellectual ability. This knowledge. This knowledge is a personal, relational knowledge of the Creator. To be in the image of God is to be made to know God. And this is Scripture's big picture of the image of God. Did you Notice In Genesis 1, Adam was created in the image of God? Jesus Christ is the image of God. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. He is Colossians 1, the image of the invisible God. Adam was created to be a picture in the image of him. To be human is to be made for Christ. It is to be called to be in his likeness. And part of what that Christlikeness means is shown us in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1 26, let us make man in our own image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So because humanity is in the image of God, we are to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. In other words, we are to be pictures of Christ, who is the one who fulfills. Psalm 8. Psalm 8. What is man that you are mindful of him, the Son of man, that you care for him. You made him for a little while lower, lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor, and put everything under his feet. Yes, Jesus Christ is the one who is fruitful, who multiplies, who fills the earth, subdues it, and rules over all things. He is the one who fulfills what Adam was made to be. But also to be in the image of God is to be created male and female. Genesis 1:27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. So the triune Creator who says, let us make man in our image makes us male and female plurality in unity. And Paul says, this mystery is profound, but I'm referring to Christ and the Church. But just as Adam was made to be in the likeness of Christ, so the relationship between the man and the woman holds out to us the end goal of all things. That the church, the bride of Christ, will be prepared beautifully for the bridegroom himself. To be human in the image of God is to be made to know God in Christ, to image him forth to the world and to do so as male and female. This is the high dignity into which we have been born. It is not earned, it is not acquired. It is a gift of God given in creation. And yet, given all that privilege. Adam, who is called the Son of God in Luke 3, he did not live out who he was made to be. He did not image well the Son of God or act in his likeness. He became, unlike Christ, he became a prodigal son. And instead of saying to the devil, as Christ did, you shall worship the Lord your God and him alone. Adam desired to be God himself. And so the image and likeness of God in him was perverted and ruined. Now the image of God in humanity was not completely destroyed. Adam could not entirely undo what he was made to be. And so in Genesis 9, God tells Noah, every moving thing shall be food for you, so you can eat animals. But whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. In other words, the reason why you can't murder is because man remains, even after the fall, in the image of God. And yet the image of God is terribly marred. And it is marred in all the children of Adam who are born in his likeness. Sin came into the world through one man. And by the one man's disobedience, we all became sinners. It means we are at the same time both glorious and a ruin in the image of God and terribly fallen. It means, as Aslan said to Prince Caspian in Narnia, you come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve. And that is both. Honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on Earth. Friend, you are not your own. This is the identity you were born with. And just as you are not your own in creation, oh, you are not your own in redemption either. Your new identity in Christ does not depend on you constructing it or finding it. The image of God was ruined in Adam, and there is nothing that we could do about it. We always seek to mend ourselves, but we don't even know what mended looks like. We try morality to sort ourselves out, but this is like trying to redraw a ruined portrait when you don't even know what it once looked like. Trying to heal humanity when you don't understand what we were made to be. To restore humanity in the image of God as we were made to be, you had to know God. You had to know what he is like. Otherwise you would never know what the image of God should be like. There was only one hope for us. The original subject of the portrait had to come and have his likeness redrawn on the canvas of humanity. Only the one whose likeness was originally drawn on Adam could restore and renew it. And so the image of God Himself came. He took humanity to renew his image in it. He came and showed us the image of God in the flesh. And so, in the loving wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame, a second Adam, to the fight and to the rescue, came. And this last Adam would be the head of the new humanity. So that just as all those who were born in Adam were born with Adam's identity, so all who are reborn in Christ share Christ's identity only in him. Never by ourselves, only in Him. As Paul puts it in Colossians 3 could we put on the new self being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. In him we are humanized. In him we are mended and renewed in the likeness of God. In him we are made what we are created to be. And none of it is the result of our own doing. None of it is the result of how we perform or how we feel. Just as we were born in Adam, born in the image of God, born ruined, so we become who we were made to be by birth. We are given the right to be children of God, because we are born of him, born again through the living and abiding Word of God. And as at our birth we were born in Adam to share his identity, at our rebirth in Christ we were reborn to share his. And when you are found in Christ, Ephesians 1. In him we have every spiritual blessing. Reborn in Christ. I have been crucified. I have been crucified. I have been through the judgment that I deserve. I have been raised to an imperishable new life. And in Him I wear his helmet of salvation. I wear the breastplate of his righteousness. In him I am righteous with the very righteousness of Christ. In him, I hear the Father say of me, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now, you might say, that is wonderful, but that is too good for me. If you knew me, you'd know I cannot keep myself in so high an identity. Oh, no, of course you can't. Here's what the Apostle Paul says. You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Dear, struggling friend. Maybe that friend with the assurance issue earlier. Might God let me go? Might I not earn my keep in his favor? Christian, Jesus bought you with his own blood. Do you think he would let you go having paid that for you? Christian, your blessed new identity in Christ does not depend on you desperately holding onto it. It does not depend on the strength of your faith. However you feel, it is his grasp on you that keeps you safe, not your grasp of Him. And you know the tender arms that first raised you to new life and that keep you now. Those arms are the arms of the Almighty, Lord of hosts, tender and so mighty, none can snatch out of his hand. You know, in the days of the early church, when Christians were hauled up before the Roman magistrate, their standard reply was to confess, christianus sum, I am a Christian. And when they said that, they weren't describing a personal preference, as if they merely wished in that moment to identify as a Christian. They were saying, that is who I am. And one of those martyrs was called Probus, who died around the year 300. And Probus was put to multiple sessions of torture in an effort to get him to recant. And each time when he was brought back, he was given time to recover, then brought back for another session of torture. And each time he was asked his name, and each time his answer was this. Men call me Probus. My real name is Christian. That he saw was his identity. Other things about him were true, but secondary. He might have been Greek or Jewish, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. But his name was Christian. That was who he was. Perhaps. Beloved, you have been trying to find yourself and you don't know how. Jesus said, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. So if you would find yourself, you must come, throw yourself on Christ. Those who do die with him, and they are raised up in him to share his privileges, his identity. The beloved Son before the Father. I know if you are in him. You may be lionized by the world, or you may feel overlooked. But friend, if you are in him, you have an identity that surpasses all the glory the world could bestow. It is not an identity you need to try to find, but it is an identity you need to embrace. So don't define yourself by your abilities. Those can be ripped away from you in one car crash. Don't define yourself by your achievements. Those two can be stripped from you in a single day. Don't define yourself by your wounds and your pain. He is going to wipe all your tears away. Instead, say, my true name is Christian. And when you are asked in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, what is your only comfort in life and in death, say, I am not my own, but I belong with body and soul, both in life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood. He has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, he assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him. Tomorrow morning, as you're getting changed and you catch a glimpse of your navel, Remember its lesson. You are not your own. You are not left to find your identity or create it. You are not the Creator. You are born in the image of God made for Him. And we who trust Christ have been born again into the noblest identity, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. And if when you see your navel, you groan at the ruin of the fall, know this. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Yes, not only will he keep you, he will conform you so that one day in your body and in your soul, you will shine with Christ likeness.
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That was ligonier teaching fellow Dr. Michael Reeves. He was just one of our speakers at this year's Ligonier National Conference. All of those messages are available for free on the Ligonier YouTube channel. And if you'd like to support the work of renewing your mind more directly, we're offering a hardcover copy of R.C. sproul's book Heroes of the Christian Faith, along with a digital study guide. So call us with Your donation at 800-435-4343 or go online to renewingyourmind.org Tomorrow is the last day of this series of messages from our 2026 national conference, and we will close with what is always a highlight of our conference, the Q and A sessions. Join us tomorrow to hear Drs. Sinclair, Ferguson, Double D, Robert Godfrey, Derek Thomas and Rev. Joel Kim as they respond to questions about anxiety, church leadership, the sacraments and more here on Renewing youg Mind.
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