Combating IDOLATRY & Taking Hold Of Our IDENTITY In Christ | Dr. Bryan Loritts

Who Does God Say We Are? Dr. Bryan Loritts joins Kirk Cameron to discuss a believer’s identity in Christ and what it means to rest in the approval of Jesus and His finished work on the cross. Dr. Loritts also shares some of the common lies that distract us from living out our identity in Christ, and God’s call for us to live in unity with one another. Don’t miss this episode of Takeaways with Kirk Cameron on TBN!

I’m putting gospel distance between what I do and who I am in price between what I have and who I am in Christ.
That’s what identity in Christ allows me to do.
It allows me to keep god’s good gifts in their appropriate place so that they don’t become idols of identity.
I know that my identity is really rooted in the fact that I am a child of god, and it’s Jesus’ perfect performance through his life and his death and his resurrection that allows me to stand before god and have the applause of with him.
I’m especially excited to talk with you about this subject of identity.
You know, I have 6 kids, and they’re trying to figure out who they are.
All of us are trying to figure out who we are, and we’ve got so many voices.
Your identity is about your race.
Your identity is about your attractiveness or about your wealth or about your weight or about your abilities.
As an actor, you know, I could have serious identity problems because I’m always playing somebody new every time I’m in a in a role.
What does god tell us about our identity and who we truly are?
Well, Kirk, I’m really excited and pleased, uh, to be a part of this a much needed conversation because I think your question is not just the Christian’s biggest struggle in life.
I think it’s everybody’s greatest struggle. In life.
Um, you know, there’s this whole idea, um, that the Bible talks about idolatry and the I and the idea of an idol is really a, uh, anything that that becomes an ultimate thing in our life that isn’t rooted in who god is and his character.
Uh, Tim Keller, one of my favorite authors and pastor says that an idol is anything, even a good thing that’s become an ultimate thing.
So it’s something that I go, this is who I am. As parents, our kids can become our our idols.
Money can become an idol. Work can become an idol.
Um, and what the Bible says about it is really very forthright and that is our identity should be in Christ.
One of my favorite passages, Kirk, that gets to the heart of this is first Corinthians chapter 4.
Uh, the guy who writes it, his name is Paul, And Paul wades into this whole discussion because the Corinthians were forming their sense of identity, uh, really around a celebrity cult sure that was rooted in kind of their favorite speakers.
So in chapter 1, Paul says there’s some of you, uh, you say I follow Paul.
Another says I follow Apollo who was kind of his successor.
Another says I follow Peter, uh, who kind of got the church kicked off on the day of Pentecost.
And yet Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 4, if you wanna know who I am, he says, please regard me as a servant of Christ.
And is steward of the of the mysteries of god.
So Paul says my identity isn’t in the fact that I’ve planted all these churches or I I’ve written all these books so I lead all this stuff.
My identity is firmly rooted in who Christ is.
And and the last thing I’ll say in answer to your question, the reason why the Bible speaks so forthrightly about this idea of identity actually for our joy.
Anytime we place our identity in something that is temporal, anything in this life, it is bound to disappoint us.
You know, some of the most miserable people on the earth are those who’ve experienced a lot of success in this life.
They’ve checked off a lot of boxes.
They’ve got the wealth, the money, the fame, and yet I think what compounds their misery is they’re saying, listen.
I’ve gotten all this stuff from life, and it’s just come up empty.
That’s really the the whole story behind the book of Ecclesiastes.
A clinical psychologist once said, If I had to render kind of a diagnosis on who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, which is Solomon, who by today’s estimation is a billionaire several times over, the psychologist said, I would say whoever wrote that is depressed.
And it’s interesting. Solomon says, I’ve had it all.
Uh.
And yet vanity of vanities, the idea of empty. It just didn’t satisfy me.
And so identity can never be fulfilled in this life, but it’s gotta be something that’s beyond this life which is Jesus Christ.
Brian, let me ask you this question. You said our identity needs to be firmly rooted in Christ.
That’s kind of a a theological concept there in Christ. What what does that even mean?
The Christian faith is, uh, really that we are not saved by our works.
Uh, we’re not saved by our goodness. Uh, ultimately, what defines me is not my worst days.
It’s not my best days. But the fact that I’ve been saved by grace through faith.
And I I think what that means, it’s it’s incredibly freeing.
So god says to Jesus in Matthew 3, as Jesus is is coming out of the waters at his baptism.
Uh, god says of Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
I like that, Kirk, because this is the front end of Jesus’s ministry.
So god says it to Jesus before he performs a miracle.
Before he preaches a sermon, before he raises anybody from the dead, god says I’m pleased with you.
And so to be in Christ means god says the same thing of us, not because of our performance, because of what Christ did for us on the cross.
That’s enough. And so the idea here is basically at a baseline to be in Christ means I no longer work for approval I work from approval.
And so, you know, we live in what’s called a meritocracy. Uh, I speak a lot to athletes.
And I tell athletes all the time.
I I said Christianity is so antithetical from how you’re wired and how you’re raised because from your earliest days, you caught you caught on pretty quickly that I get a lot of applause basically for how I perform.
Know, if I make enough tackles, if I run enough yards, if I score enough touchdowns, if I score enough points, then I’m accepted The problem with that I said is at some point, you’re gonna get cut by a team or an injury is going to happen or retirement’s going to take place.
And if your identity is based on those those good things, it’s gonna let you down each and every time.
And so to be in Christ means I am resting in his approval and his love for me, not because of me, but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Yeah. And and that’s something that we we need to keep thinking on and, uh, and reminding ourselves because we can get so distracted by the lies that are coming at us every single day through our through our phone, through television, through movies, through music, and all of that.
Can can can you help me identify some of those lies that distract us from our true identity in Christ?
God is not anti wealth. He’s not anti pleasure. Uh, he’s not anti enjoyment.
I don’t think god created the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean hoping we would never see it. Right?
Uh, but we gotta keep the good gifts in their place.
Um, so listen, I don’t think social media in and of itself is bad.
But the problem here is, you know, we can kind of get into this comparison thing and go on instagram um, my my son, I’m not the biggest fan of tattoos, but my twenty one year old got a tattoo that says comparison is the thief of joy.
And that’s exactly right. So once I get on social media and I’m seeing kind of, uh, everybody’s best moments something in me covets that and thinks if I can have that, then I’m of worth.
Uh, that’s, uh, that a that’s that’s a pitfall.
You you sit in your kid’s AAU basketball games and you watch parents, not just enjoying, but going crazy if their kid doesn’t perform well or get the kind of playing time.
Well, now we’ve we’ve identified an an idol here or you go through a season of unemployment and it’s it’s not just disappointment which is understandable.
It’s just which is understandable. It’s this idea of devastation, and I’m questioning my worth, which now is an indicator light that who I am was not really resting in god.
But who I am was kind of resting in the money and the status.
I don’t think it’s a box to be checked.
I think every single day, we have to become our favorite podcast preachers where we are preaching the gospel to myself in which I’m saying I am I’m not my best days.
I’m not my worst days. I’m putting gospel distance between what I do and who I am in Christ, between what I have and who I am in Christ.
That’s what identity in Christ allows me to do.
It allows me to keep god’s good gifts in their appropriate place so that they don’t become idols of identity.
Yeah. Brian, I understand that people have an impression of me, and sometimes I can feel like I’ve gotta live up to that.
There is a certain performance level or standard that they’re expecting.
And I’m disappointing them if I’m not as happy or as funny or as energetic or as whatever.
Uh, but I know that even though I make a living pleasing people to get applause, on a sitcom or whatever it is, I know that my identity is really rooted in the fact that I am a child of god and it’s Jesus’ perfect performance through his life and his death and his resurrection that allows me to stand before god and have the applause of heaven, right, because because of what he is and and what he has done, how about for you?
You’ve got a you’ve got a a rock star preacher pastor of a father.
And I’m I’m sure there are times when you were the PK, uh, and maybe there’s been other times that you’ve struggled to to shed off an identity that was not what it should have been.
Is can you share anything in that category?
Oh, absolutely. Look. This is universal. So, you know, you’re coming at things from an acting perspective.
I’ve preached many sermons, too many to count where I didn’t feel like it went well.
And then that Sunday afternoon, I’m open around the house and I’m questioning my call as a preacher.
And at that moment, I’m going, I think I think this means a little bit more to you than what it should.
Don’t get me wrong. We all wanna do well.
We all wanna put our best foot forward at whatever point I’m questioning my worth I think I’ve just put my finger on the pulse of what I’m leaning into for for identity.
So, again, that idea of gospel distance um, allows me to kind of cope with the constant pressure to look to other places for approval and affirmation.
Brian, if we’ve got our identity right and we know who we are in god, does that help us understand our purpose because that’s the other big question.
Not only who am I, but what am I here for?
Why did why do god put me on the earth? I wanna find my lane.
I wanna do the thing I’m meant to do.
Absolutely. I I think, you know, I’m I’ve got 3 sons.
And from the time they were little, I said, listen. Life really comes down to 3 big questions.
In order. Number 1, who’s your master? We all have 1. We all have 1.
Um, so you gotta answer that one correctly. The Christian faith says god, Jesus, there would be our masters.
Number 2, what’s my mission? Right? What is that unique thing that I’ve been placed on the earth for.
And number 3, it applies to most people, not everybody, but but who’s your mate?
I think if you answer those three questions right, you’re you’re headed on a on a trajectory for for fulfillment.
But the idea of what you’re talking about, it’s really what we’re we’re not getting into a job or career.
Um, I would say the problem with most people is they have a job.
They don’t have they don’t have a vocation. Vocation comes from the Latin vocational, which means calling.
It’s kind of that intersection between kind of humanity’s need and my divine purpose And when you have a person who is stepping into vocation, they never work a day in their life.
And so I think all of us have a god given desire for purpose for meaning, for value.
And, yes, in Amen, that is a great thing.
It’s like acts 13 says of David after he the purposes of god, he died.
And I I want that. Uh, I wanna be in the presence of god and say, listen, what you uniquely gifted me and called me to do I got after in my life.
The problem is when I lean into that for identity, that’s that’s the problem.
Can you tell us?
Because you know the scripture so well, uh, what what does it mean to be in Christ?
As in, what are some of the descriptors that describe a person who is in Christ?
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, um, I I I would say the predominant image especially as we get to the new testament is we are adopted as sons and daughters into the family of god.
One of my favorite kind of biblical passages uh, which really gets at this is a well known story.
It’s been labeled as the prodigal son.
Here you have this youngest son who really disrespects his dad and says, give me my share of the inheritance now, which in that culture and that time would have been heard as I wish you were dead.
His father, uh, having having to be paying, gives him the money.
The youngest son takes it off to the far country, uh, waste it on what one translation says as riotous living comes to the end of himself.
And then irony, he is this Jewish kid is a pig farmer, uh, and says I need to go back home, but he knows he’s disrespected his dad.
And so he says here’s what I’ll tell my dad. Um, I wanna come back home as a hired servant.
I think he’s acknowledging. I’ve caused you a lot of pain.
Let me come and just kind of pay off my debt that way.
And so he comes home and makes his stump speech to his dad.
And his head says bring out the robe, kill the fatted calf, get the party started, and he says nonsense.
You’re not a hired servant. You’re my son.
And I think that’s how so many people, even Christians included instinctively approach god when they’ve wronged him is I know I’ve hurt you.
I’ve done things I shouldn’t have done. Let me take on kind of this servant identity.
Let me do enough quiet times pray enough, give a little bit more in church, kind of be a good boy, good girl, and god is saying nonsense.
Number 1, your debt’s too big. You can never pay it off.
But number 2, our relationship isn’t this quid pro quo. It’s not a meritocracy. You’re my son.
You’re my daughter, and there’s nothing you can ever do to actually change that.
I actually think the language of adoption Kirk is even more powerful of an image than just having kids biologically.
Because the idea of when you adopt a kit, you choose that kit.
Um, I’ve got a mentor of mine who their adopted child went through a period of rebellion, and he says to me what made it particularly painful.
Is just knowing that I chose that kid, and they wanted nothing to do with me.
So the fact that we are chosen in Christ adopted into his family, and that is secure is a powerful image of what it means to be in Christ.
There is no hired servant mentality. I’m chosen and resting in the beloved.
But, Brian, when I introduced you, just a few moments ago, I introduced you as a pastor as an author.
So we do have these other descriptors that we use to describe ourselves. I would say, yes, I’m an actor.
I I’m a I’m a filmmaker.
So do those things not matter to us as Christians, should they not matter, or do they still matter?
Yeah. They they actually matter. Um, you know, those are roles. I’m a I’m a husband, uh, to Corey.
I’m a father to Quentin Miles and Jaden. I’m I’m also an African American man.
That’s been created in the image of god. I don’t believe in anything of color blindness.
The issue is all of those things must be subjugated to the master identity of Christ.
Let’s just put it out there on the table.
Does the cultural understanding of gender identity square with scripture And if not, what does scripture say about gender identity?
You know, this is a very sensitive conversation.
You know, our family lived in the Bay Area for for years and we’re called to love everybody, but love is not this low cultural ethic of tolerance.
And I called a low ethic because I tolerate you is very low.
Um, and our culture would would would send the message that love means you accept and agree with everything about me.
Whoever says that must not have kids. Right?
Because our kids make choices and decisions that we disagree with, but I can disagree with you and love you at the same time.
The Bible is very clear. Just taking a thirty five thousand foot perspective.
That the institution of marriage is to be between a man and a woman.
Um gee, god says himself when he begins it that that listen.
I want you to be fruitful and I want you to multiply.
Um, that can only happen in an institution that is between a man and a woman.
And so our biblical convictions are firm and fixed For the for the believer, our our sense of authority is not inward.
It’s outward and upward rooted in the word of god.
The problem is is that we live in a culture where people look inward for authority. Right.
And that’s the huge disconnect. So There’s this tension. We as Christians have to have to navigate.
On the one hand, we wanna show incredible compassion, incredible love to people.
But on the other hand, we we wanna be people who are are rooted in the word of god.
Last thing I’ll say along these lines, it’s what John said when he saw Jesus I saw a man full of grace and truth and to be Christians mean it means that we kind of incarnate those 2 things.
And oftentimes, people won’t be open to the truth that we have in Christ until they first feel grace from us.
You’re a black man. I’m a white man, but sometimes these, uh, these conversations are awkward for us, and especially as Christians because we want our speech to be seasoned with grace and we get confused.
Um, should we be should I refer to you as a black man?
Or is that putting too much weight on the color of your skin or your heritage, should we just say, no.
You’re a man. I’m a man.
You’ve just got some more melanin in your skin than I do because the truth is you’re really not black.
You’re a shade of brown, and I’m really white. I’m actually just a kind of a shade of pink.
Right. How should we deal with the color and race thing.
And that that that always gets me confused because there’s I thought there was just one race, the human race, but then that sounds like you’re being insensitive to the issues of a black man.
Or, uh, an Asian person or whatever. What what do you think about that?
Yeah. So the the call in the Bible, Kirk, is that you and I would walk together in unity.
And, um, and unity is not this uniformity.
Um, unity is really getting to know who we are, uh, getting to know our unique stories, but what bonds us together again is this whole idea of being in Christ.
If you want oneness with me, Kirk, as a black man, in the United States, there’s some experiences that I’ve had.
Now I don’t allow those experience to become my ultimate identity, but it is a part of how I’ve been framed in my perspective and my shape.
I don’t think you and I can have a deep relationship without you hearing that perspective.
On the other hand, I push back on some of my African American brothers and sisters who who subscribed to what I call ethnic idolatry, where now because that’s the number one thing we shutdown that anybody white is automatically wrong and I’ve just judged you and I’ve made assumptions about you.
That’s no way uh, towards a relationship either.
So it’s that tight rope of hearing my story, but not being defined by those things as well.
What can parents and grandparents be doing, uh, with the time that they have with their little ones to help them root their identity
he creates is the family.
That’s Genesis chapter 2. Later on in Genesis, he creates an institution called the government the government exists, uh, for the good of the people.
And then the 3rd institution is is the church.
Uh, and so one of the primary mechanisms god uses to change and transform the world is this thing called the family.
And what that means as parents, grandparents, is we are called to the discipleship of our kids and our grandkids.
Uh, which means they’re gonna constantly I mean, that’s deuteronomy chapter 6.
Uh, where god says, hero, Israel, the lord, our god, the lord is 1.
I want you talk of these things in every facet of your life as you’re walking as you’re sitting down.
We’re to create an atmosphere, a greenhouse, of just the word of god in rooting them in that.
And I think that’s very important.
Whatever your school choice is, some of your listeners are homeschoolers, others are begin to Christian school, public school, that’s great.
But I would say we don’t outsource that responsibility to the youth pastor.
We don’t outsource it to the to the schools. That’s our responsibility.
Those other institutions, especially if they’re Christian, they can supplement it but I’m responsible for teaching it both with my mouth and with my life.
Um, and so I would say that’s a huge responsibility that we must embrace.
I love that picture. You just painted of a greenhouse, a greenhouse where things grow quickly.
They grow abundantly because the conditions are right.
And, uh, I love that with the word of god and by leading through your own example of living a godly life