Identity in Christ

Stop letting other people define who you are. DEFY the false identities people assign to you. 

Maximus was offered the Emperorship but was betrayed and thought by all to have been unjustly executed, but he actually had escaped (great scene)...but found his wife and son crucified by the false Emperor’s men...so he turned his back on his identity as a beloved Roman General and he was sold into slavery as a Gladiator. Not even his fellow Gladiators knew his true identity. 

Notice the downward progression in the series of names the Emperor assigns to Maximus in the span of not even a minute in this brilliant scene...he starts w/sarcastic flattery and ends with cruelty...

The Unmatched One 

Spaniard 

Hector Reborn 

Hercules Reborn 

Hero with no name 

Gladiator 

And finally...

Slave

But regardless of what the most powerful man on Earth said about him, even while in bondage, Maximus was still only a slave if he CHOSE to be a slave. Maximus could be a sad sack and assume the identities the Emperor assigned to him...after all, it WAS the Emperor, the “great man”, and the Emperor’s characterization seemed accurate given Maximus’ current situation...or he could remember who he was deep down and act from that identity. 

If your identity is in Christ...you aren’t a nag, you aren’t a slob, you aren’t a drunk, you aren’t a jerk, you aren’t an addict, you aren’t a pain, you aren’t a has been, you aren’t too young or too old...you aren’t who that jealous threatened person in your life says you are...you are who God says you are. And it ain’t a slave to any mere human being...regardless of who that human being is in your life. 

In other words...even the most powerful person on Earth can’t take away your identity unless you ALLOW them to and even then nothing can separate you from your heavenly Father. You no longer have to be a slave because you no longer ARE a slave...you can be free. 

Maximus’ title or circumstances didn’t change much that day. He was still a Gladiator, but he reassumed his deepest identity and that led to ultimate freedom. 

“A General who became a Slave...a Slave who became a Gladiator...a Gladiator who DEFIED an Emperor.”