Is Our Primary Identity In Christ?

Is Our Primary Identity In Christ?

Good Morning Friends,

Today we consider all the hats we wear in life as we explore God’s plan for the redemption of our past, present and future. And as we contemplate this, with some degree of honest introspection, one question stares us in the face and challenges us to answer in the affirmative. Is Our Primary Identity In Christ?

Scripture: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (NRSV)

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

John 20:24-29 (NRSV)

Message: If we are not seeking to find our identity in Christ first, then we are seeking it in something else to our own detriment. For even though we believe our identity is in Christ we typically do not make it a priority and as a result fail to experience how this relationship is to change the way we live in practical ways. We typically discount this identity and get it all mixed up with being a spouse, parent, employee and member of one group or another. As the Apostle Paul came to the end of writing the second letter to the Ephesians, he explains that the Christians in the church in Ephesus had a new identity. They had transferred their allegiance from their former way of life, and they now had a new identity in Christ. Paul writes about their citizenship alluding to citizenship of God’s kingdom. Here the Kingdom of God is not a territorial jurisdiction, it is God himself ruling his people, and bestowing upon them all the privileges and responsibilities which divine rule implies. To this new international God-ruled community, Gentiles and Jews, slave and free, male and female, belonged on equal terms. Interestingly, Paul is writing while the Roman Empire has yet to show signs of its coming decline, let alone of its fall. Yet Paul sees this other kingdom of God as more splendid and enduring than Rome’s. And so, Paul rejoices in its citizenship more even than in his Roman citizenship. It is a kingdom made possible by the resurrected body of Christ. The walls and locked doors and boarders are no barrier to the resurrected Christ. Here Jesus ushers in this new kingdom proclaiming a relationship of peace but also displaying the marks of suffering on the Cross, all as witness that though the Lord has been crucified he has most surely risen from the dead so we too might be changed. So, friends, this morning be confident that having one’s primary identity in Christ will produce things of eternal value. The
great purpose in our lives is to identify with and become more like Christ.

Pray we delight in the peace offered by a resurrected Jesus. Pray we no longer chase after the desires of the world but instead seek to bring God glory in all areas of our life. Pray we become instruments of God’s righteousness. Pray we do not love the things of our body more than the Body of Christ as we rejoice in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Pray we have a legacy that is built to last because it is not built on pride. Pray we have an identity as citizens of God’s Kingdom in a place we can call home. Pray we have an identity as members of God’s family, sharing the same Father. Pray we understand that we are stones of God’s Temple to abide in a place of eternity. Pray we realize that God is the architect of our existence forming us to fit into the Temple that has God. Pray we be at peace despite our skepticism because Christ is our Cornerstone. Pray we be without fear of the future because the Father of Creation is our foundation. Pray we realize that we have no need to judge or compare ourselves to other stones in the Temple but to serve Christ, in whom our identity is hidden as part of a greater whole.

Blessings,

John Lawson