This little card is so vital to each of us. My card
warns that this number is not to be used for identification purposes. Its hard to know what kind of ID they’re thinking about. Even your number tells a lot about you. For example if the first three digits are between 050 and 134, you
probably got the number when you lived in New York. If your social security number starts with 700, someone in your family worked for a railroad.
When I was in college, they listed you by Social Security number and put your test grade on the door. And now when I call any company, I give my password and then they ask me for the last four digits of my social security number for verification. They just stole 50,000 numbers from the University of Texas last week and people anxious that the numbers will allow the thief to empty a bank account or even transfer property.
And many numbers for people who have died are published on the internet. Just to see, I typed in my grandfather’s name. Sure enough, Ralley Wilson’s Social Security Number is 104-28-2375. My grandparent’s protected this information so carefully and then the government publishes it. It seems almost wrong to look at it, doesn’t it?
One of the greatest needs we have is for an identity. /// We want to know that we’re somebody. /// And we want an identity that can’t be used against us.
We’re going to look at God’s story of creation today and how it tells us that we are incredibly important even to the hair on our head.
The story of Christianity is first the story of your identity and what it all means. They say that when you communicate, one way to make an emphasis is to put it first. The Bible emphasizes creation. Our identity comes from our creation.
The fifth word of the Bible is create.
In the beginning, God created. This is a story to tell you that you are incredibly important. Now I know you’re suspicious because the last person who told you that was trying to sell you life insurance.
Of course, we have to believe that we’re important. What would be the sense of going on – especially if your life is hard – if you didn’t believe that it all meant something? Friends, the thing that’s different about this story is that God says that you and I are important because God made us. When we were born, God placed the image of God on us. We are born with the sign of God on us. Verse 27 “In the image of God he created them”. What is the image of God? The image of God is authority.
God gave humans authority uniquely that the animals and plants do not have. Anyone who has this mark is a sacred property. Let me give you an example. God’s creation was to give us the authority to create culture. Be fruitful and fill the earth and be stewards over it. This is the cultural mandate . We were given the authority to make songs, write our own stories and draw paintings. We were set free to think up airplanes and all the wonderful inventions and creations. We are acting as junior creators, under God the great Creator. This is a Creator who gets pleasure from giving humans some authority to extend creation.
Can you think of an animal that wrote a song or made a drawing? Name the three most significant inventions of the plant world. Humans are just a little lower than the angels according to Psalm 8:5. Have you ever sung a song, wrote a note, made a joke, worked on a school project. Your life is the best evidence that you are important because you have exercised the creative authority received from God.
Parents have you had a child? You were able to create yet another human being with the mark and authority of God. The hills clap their hands and the rivers run with joy to behold it. And we humans say, -- oh, its not so much.
We do these acts as though they were unimportant and the universe marvels aloud to see the freedom God has given humanity.
Many people feel a lot of guilt about life issues, but telling God that creation wasn’t that important is really bad and makes God mad. Why don’t we feel guilty about it? Good question! When you were a kid, wasn’t one way to annoy your father to contradict him? I hate it myself. Don’t contradict your father was actually in the 10 commandments and one of Aaron’s sons removed it. So how do you think God feels when the Lord makes you and gives you the very creative authority, the image of God marked daily on your life and you say to God, I’m worthless. You didn’t do much in my case.
People, if you want to live the Christian life, the first step is to believe that you have an identity and self respect given in creation. It’s the first Lifesaving story.
An ID that Always Works. You have to be careful about getting a real ID. Since
I’ve been at the church, half a dozen people have worked with social security numbers that turned out to be bad. You know what happens when your number is bad? It
means that you give almost 10% of your savings to the government for all that time and you get no credit. You pay the social security 
tax, but you will never be able to claim any of it. At the end of your work, you have nothing.
I see a lot of people trusting to youth as the ID. Disease doesn’t often strike in youth. Adults work with youth to help them have a successful class experience. Class of 2003. We gave a new sign for the basketball score. We made our contribution.
People, always check the quality of your ID. Youth doesn’t always work. If we have a war, the young are the most vulnerable. Who’s going to die in battle? 70 year olds? God says that if you’ll believe the message of creation, your value doesn’t come from your energy, your strength, your common sense or inheritance. You may have lived great or been a criminal. None of it matters. You are somebody because of how God created you and nothing on earth or in heaven changes that.
And its an ID that can’t be damaged. You know what happens when we affirm who we are in God? We stir up jealousy in others. We stir up jealousy especially in others who have trusted to another ID. Secretly they are worried that their ID won’t always work and when they see our peace, worry and frustration and jealousy boils over.
I suppose that parents who want to do damage have the best chance. Just yesterday I read the account of a young guy whose mother blamed him and his sister with wrecking her life. He said, ‘We would do our chores and if we forgot to dust the TV, she always told us it was because we were trying to destroy her.’ He continues, ‘Five years later, I can’t trust myself to get anything done right.’
Ids are damaged every day. The Bible tells us [Rom 8:39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. But people try. Race – there is almost no comment that you can make about race that is safe. Race is still used to damage your ID. Past life – what crime did you do that someone wants to hold against you? Sexual preference – I’ve never had more comment about a sermon more than February 2nd. And nine of those comments were words of appreciation. If people don’t like who you are, they try to damage your ID as a person of sacred worth.
Age – there’s an important age discrimination suit against Allstate insurance. They tried to get rid of agents over 40 years old. You can’t make this stuff up. In another case, the supervisor tells the employee that he’s too old, ‘Henry, the boss continues, ‘You must have come over on the Mayflower.’
The first Christian story is about how you were created and why its important. And how have you been treating yourself? Do you act like you believe God’s story of creation? Do you expect a lot from yourself because you know how highly God thinks of you? Have you allowed your ID to get damaged by the slurs of others?
We all make choices in life as to what we believe and hope for. Sometimes, we can follow Christ for a long time and still have not accepted all of the gospel. I invite you affirm your sacred worth right now. Let’s turn to the Heavenly Father and say thank you. Let us each promise that we will stop using other ID’s and that we will live by faith. We will ignore the taunts of the jealous. We will believe only what God says, that the universe marvels at our existence, that we have a wonderful ID because we are a little lower than the angels, you are actually made in the image of God.
