All posts ‘I am’
12/7/2009 12:57:38 PM
Do you remember the “I am Tiger Woods” ad campaign for Nike?
I wonder what the parents of these children might be thinking today, in light of Tiger’s recent “transgressions.”
It is dangerous to completely identify one’s life with that of another. We are imperfect. We are fallible. We are human.
God is self-revealed in Exodus 3:1-15 as YHWH, “I am.” When Jesus claimed the title “I am” he did so knowing the gravity of the claim. If you claim to be the great “I am,” you had better be able to live up to the name. And so He does:
- John 6:51:”I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;”
- John 8:12: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I AM the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
- John 8:23: And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I AM from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
- John 10:9: “I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
- John 10:11: “I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
- John 10:36: “do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
- John 11:25: Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
- John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- John 15:1: “I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
- John 18:4-8 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” “I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered.
- John 19:2: Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”‘”
- Acts 9:5: And (Saul) said, “Who are You, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
- Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
- Revelation 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
- Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
What was Jesus claiming when he claimed to be “I am?”
What are you and I claiming when we claim to be “Christian?”
Let then, your life be no longer conformed to the patterns of this world (nor the heroes and idols of this world), but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Indeed, allow the inward working of the Holy Spirit to bring you into greater alignment with Jesus, cultivating the very mind of Christ, cultivating the very character of Christ, cultivating the very life of Christ. To the end that you might be able to say with the apostle Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
I am still not advocating Nike’s Tiger Woods’ campaign line that Christians would go about claiming, “I am Jesus.” But more the Michael Jordan/Carmelo Anthony version of the same ad:
“I am not Michael Jordan. I am Carmelo Anthony, his student.”
Who we emulate matters.
How we answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” matters.
How we become a living representation of Jesus matters.
One of my favorite revelations about the nature and person of Jesus is found in the opening verses of the book of Hebrews. Consider what it means for Jesus to be “the exact representation” of God as you live out your life seeking to re-present Christ to the world.
“ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1-3