Identity | Transformed by knowing God Week 1 | 4 Oct 2026 | Abi Lycett

Knowing God is meant to get right down into the roots of life. The tree image shows how beliefs shape values, values shape decisions, and decisions shape the fruit that comes out in everyday life. Identity sits right there in the roots, because what somebody believes about who they are will overflow into how they live, how they relate, and what they think they are worth.

Psalm 139 gives the starting point: God knit each person together, intricately and intentionally, on purpose and for a purpose. John 1 then takes that even further. John places Jesus at the very beginning, not as God’s backup plan after everything went wrong, but as the Word who was with God and was God, through whom all things were made. Jesus therefore stands at the centre of creation, including each individual life.

John 1 also gives the stunning claim that those who receive Christ are given the right to become children of God. Jesus changes what it means to know God. God is not merely the distant Father of a people, a heritage, or a nation. God invites people into an intimate relationship where “Abba” means something like Dad. The loving Father of the prodigal son welcomes children home, and that welcome is not undone by failure, distance, or a messy past.

Paul’s life shows what happens when identity gets rooted in Christ. Paul had every reason to boast in his background, learning, status, and righteousness under the law. Paul nevertheless calls those gains garbage compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Paul does not throw away his Jewish heritage, Roman citizenship, education, or ability to speak with different people. Christ redeems those parts of his story and uses them for God’s purposes, while refusing to let them become the thing that defines him.

Identity rooted in Christ brings a bedrock that circumstances cannot easily shake. Paul learns contentment in plenty and in need because Christ, rather than success or security, becomes his cornerstone. Comparison, false expectations, pressure to perform, and fear of failure can all creep into the roots and produce insecurity, control, judgment, and exhaustion. The identity of being God’s child instead makes space for humility, confidence, trust, belonging, freedom, and the ability to champion others. God’s thoughts define his children; God is their reality; and their deepest belonging is with the Father.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Identity begins with God’s creative love
  God’s knowledge of a person comes before their achievements, failures, reputation, or role. God creates each life with care rather than accident or indifference. This means identity is first received from the Creator, not pieced together from the approval of other people. [07:38]
• 2. Jesus makes children of God
  Jesus does not simply offer religious information or a better moral framework. Jesus gives those who receive him the right to belong to God as children. This belonging is deeply personal, intimate, and secure because it rests in God’s grace rather than natural descent, performance, or status. [18:10]
• 3. Christ outranks every worldly credential
  Paul’s qualifications were real, impressive, and useful, but they could not bear the weight of his identity. Christ becomes more valuable than every title, success, or reason for pride. God can use a person’s history without allowing that history to become their master. [28:35]
• 4. Security in Christ outlasts circumstances
  Paul’s contentment did not come from having enough or controlling outcomes. Christ gave him strength to live humbly and to abound without being defined by either condition. A life rooted in Christ still feels storms, but it is not built on the waves. [33:33]
• 5. Freedom grows when comparison loses power
  Comparison makes somebody else’s path become the standard for a life God designed uniquely. Identity in Christ makes room for confidence without arrogance and humility without self-hatred. Secure children of God can celebrate another person’s gifts without treating those gifts as a threat. [35:15]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:22] - A Life Like a Tree
• [05:04] - What Identity Means
• [07:08] - Known and Created by God
• [10:04] - John 1 and the Word Made Flesh
• [15:28] - The Right to Become God’s Children
• [18:48] - Abba Father and True Belonging
• [24:02] - Paul’s Transformed Identity
• [28:08] - Counting Everything Loss for Christ
• [31:13] - Redeeming Every Part of the Story
• [33:10] - Contentment Through Christ
• [34:46] - What Gets Into the Roots
• [39:09] - The Fruit of Secure Identity
• [42:09] - God’s Thoughts Define His Children

Bible Reading

John 1:1-14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [10:08]

Philippians 3:4-9
“If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” [28:13]

Psalm 139:13-16
“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” [07:28]

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 139:13–16, what words and images show God’s personal care and intention in creating each person? [07:38]
2. In John 1:1–14, what does John say about Jesus’ relationship to God, creation, light, and the world?
3. According to John 1, what is given to those who receive and believe in Jesus, and what does the passage say this new identity is not based on? [18:48]
4. In Philippians 3:4–9, which parts of Paul’s background and achievements does he list, and how does he evaluate them in comparison with knowing Christ? [28:35]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does it matter that Jesus is presented as present at creation rather than as a response after humanity’s failure? How does that shape the meaning of each person’s life and identity? [13:18]
2. John says that becoming a child of God is not grounded in family background, human effort, or status. What kinds of identity markers today can wrongly take the place of this gift of belonging?
3. Paul does not deny his history, education, culture, or abilities, yet he refuses to let them define him. What is the difference between gratefully using these parts of a person’s story and putting confidence in them? [30:44]
4. Paul describes contentment in both need and plenty. How does an identity rooted in Christ make a person more steady when circumstances change? [33:33]

Application questions

1. What usually has the strongest voice in defining who you are—your work, family role, appearance, success, failure, relationships, or something else? How does the truth that God created you intentionally speak into that voice? [07:43]
2. Being a child of God is not a reward for performing well, but a gift received through Christ. Where do you most often feel pressure to prove that you are worthwhile, accepted, or spiritual enough? [21:24]
3. Is there a past failure, family background, qualification, strength, or label that has become too central to your identity? How might God redeem that part of your story without allowing it to become your master? [31:41]
4. Comparison can turn another person’s gifts or path into a standard for our own lives. Who are you tempted to compare yourself with, and what might it look like to genuinely celebrate God’s work in that person instead? [35:15]
5. Where has fear of failure led you to overwork, hide your struggles, control outcomes, or present a version of yourself that is not fully true? What would it look like to live more openly as someone already loved and accepted by God? [37:21]
6. In one current circumstance—whether plenty or need, success or disappointment—what would it mean to let Christ be your bedrock rather than the outcome you want? [34:05]
7. Which fruit of secure identity do you most want God to grow in you this week: humility, confidence, trust, belonging, freedom, openness, or the ability to champion others? What is one small step you could take? [39:27]