Who We Are “In Christ.”

I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:1b-3a NLT

 

Opening

“A person cannot consistently act in a manner that is different than how they see themselves!”

How you answer this question as a believer is emphatically the most vital decision you will ever make.

Intimately Knowing that we are created in the image and the likeness of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified by the declaration of God, builds in us a foundation, a solid foundation, of self-worth, or better said, God-worth.

Human self-worth is always based on possessions, achievements, physical attractiveness, or our status in this world. And all these things fade, whither, and have no eternal relevance.

In order to have lasting freedom (continual, never-ending freedom) over our addiction to sin, our self-worth must be based on us knowing we are created in His image and our positions as Children of God, not on what this satanic world system values.

When we say we are inadequate, no good, unable, weak, and so on, it is to say that God made a mistake. God didn’t make a mistake when He created you! Yes, we are messed up, but God so loved us. He so loved you; He sent His only uniquely born Son to die for us, for you. We are LOVED by the Lord God Almighty.

 

Knowing your worth In Christ and the sacrifice made for your redemption makes loving God and avoiding sin possible.

 

There has been a distinct division between secular AA meetings and Christian Faith-based 12-step programs. Some ask, “When I introduce myself in a meeting, do I identify myself by my sin tendency, by my addiction? Am I an addict, alcoholic, or junkie, or am I the son or daughter of a loving God?” You should answer this honestly. You should answer by how you sincerely see yourself.

 

Our perception is what always gets us into trouble. I’ve heard some say that all addiction, all bondage, for a believer, is merely an identity crisis.

If a person struggles with homosexuality and really comes to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, should they continue to identify as gay, homosexual, or one of the other 76 darkness-related ideas of gender?

The basis of Adam’s curse is that we lost who we were created to be. And Christ gave His life so we could fully realize the life we do not deserve, the life we have through Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 15:21 (NLT) So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. ²² Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

 

How do you see yourself?

• As just an ole sinner saved by grace, or the Saint the Word of God says we are?
• As a victim or a victor?
• Created on purpose for a purpose or merely a mistake?
• As created in the image and in the likeness of God, or as someone evolved from a primate?
• As the conquered, defeated, or as more than a conqueror?
• As a petty slave to the Lord God Almighty or as a joint heir with Christ?
• As accepted by the Lord or rejected by the Lord?
• Do you perceive God as an angry God just waiting on you to mess up or as a loving Abba Father wanting to restore you?
• Do you blame God for the tragedies in your life that led you into addiction?

 

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

 

King Saul

For Bible students, he is probably best known for his jealousy of David. First, I would like to mention that all this started because the Children of God wanted to be like the other surrounding nations and have a king. Samuel, the prophet, warned the Children of the Lord on a few different occasions about what this would lead them into, but they were stubborn. The Lord relented and let them have it their way, and Samuel anointed King Saul as their King.

We see in scripture where Saul had some insecurities. He valued what people thought of him more than what God thought of him. Saul had an identity crisis. Saul was the first King, the ruler of God’s chosen people. There was no one in the world at the time who was more powerful than King Saul, yet like us as Christians living in addiction, in bondage to unforgiveness, substance addiction, bitterness, jealousy, and sexual addiction, he had no idea who he was.  

 

King Saul’s Insecurities

1 Samuel 10:21-22 (NLT) Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally, Saul, son of Kish, was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! So, they asked the Lord, “Where is he?” And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”

 

1 Samuel 10:9 (NLT) At that time, the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person. ⁹ As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart, and all Samuel’s signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰ When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he, too, began to prophesy.

 

King Saul’s insecurity, fear of others’ opinions, and need for approval destroyed him.

1 Samuel 15:10-23 (NLT) Then the Lord said to Samuel, ¹¹ “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² Early the next morning, Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, “Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.” ¹³ When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!” ¹⁴ “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. ¹⁵ “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.”

¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!”

“What did he tell you?” Saul asked. ¹⁷ And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ ¹⁹ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” ²⁰ “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. ²¹ Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²² But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord:  your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. ²³ Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. So, because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

 

Note (additional verses) – 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:1-21, 1 John 3, 1 Thessalonians 5:23   

Ezekiel 39:26-27 (NLT) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Strong’s H3820 – [Heart] inner man, mind, will, understanding, inclination

 

Who are you? How you answer this question directs the rest of your life.

• Ron Green – that’s my name, but it isn’t who I am.
• Pastor – this is my calling and occupation
• Conservative – this is my political point of view
• Excon – this is my past
• Addict, Alcoholic, Junkie, etc.
• Husband – yes, but not who I am
• Father – yes, but not who I am
• 5’ 6” 185lbs
• Bearded Preacher
• If you chopped off your arms, would you still be you? What if you chopped off your legs and arms? Would you still be you?
• What if you had a heart, liver, and kidney transplant? Would you still be you?

Now, if you keep chopping, you will get to me eventually because I am in here somewhere. Who I am is far more than what you see on the outside. The apostle Paul said, “We recognize no man according to the flesh” 2 Cor. 5:16. Maybe the Early Church didn’t, but generally, we do. We tend to identify ourselves and each other primarily by what we look like (tall, short, stocky, slender), what we do (plumber, carpenter, nurse, engineer, clerk), or by our past.

Is who you are determined by what you do, or is what you do determined by who you are? That is an important question, especially as it relates to Christian maturity. I subscribe to the latter. I believe that your hope for growth, meaning, and fulfillment as a Christian is based on understanding who you are—specifically, your identity in Christ as a child of God. Your understanding of who God is and who you are in relationship to Him is the critical foundation for your belief system and your behavior patterns as a Christian.

 

John 8:32 (NLT) And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

If we, as believers, are promised freedom, why do so many of us still live in bondage?

Before our conversion, our entire being was morally corrupt. Our minds were programmed through our Adamic nature to live independently of God. The desires of our flesh ruled us, some more than others. Then you add the pain of life, being abandoned by the people who said they would be with you forever, hurt, even abused, rejected, and lied to. All this pain has to be dealt with, and we reach to sin to deal with it.

 

Galatians 5:24 (NLT) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

 

The reason we struggle so intently with who we are “In Christ” isn’t a lack of faith. We have plenty of faith in all kinds of stuff. We have faith when we move through a green light, when we sit in a chair, and when we get a prescription filled at the pharmacy.

Faith isn’t the issue; trusting God is. We struggle to trust Him because we don’t truly know Him.

• Faith turns to trust by hearing God’s word.
• Faith is evidence of what we cannot see, things that have not even happened.
• Walking by Faith means we trust God to make even the most tragic circumstances work out for our good.

 

Part 2

Ephesians 3:20 (NLT) Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Romans 8:28 (NLT) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

 

Sanctification means to be set apart for the sacred use of God. Another English word we use to describe sanctification is holiness. I’ve heard some speak of this as an instantaneous second work of grace. I believe that this is a dangerous teaching for those whose pre-converted lifestyles were more sinful than most. People who have lived excessively in sin, alcoholics, addicts, and those who have sexual addictions will require more time and effort to renew their minds.

Repentance doesn’t happen all at once; we turn from our sins, and as we learn to trust God, we sin less and less.

Can our minds be instantaneously renewed? Do we, by some miracle, overcome the emotional wounds brought about by a life of sin? When a child is born, can they feed themselves and care for themselves? Absolutely not! It is a process of growing up. Every believer will spend the rest of their lives renewing minds and conforming to the image of Christ. This is accomplished as we progress in our intimate knowledge of Him.

The seed that was sown in us by God is only a beginning. Being a child of God and being free in Christ is the positional truth and every believer’s birthright. Because of a lack of repentance and ignorance of the truth, many believers are not living like liberated children of God. They still see themselves as just ole sinners saved by grace, as addicts, alcoholics, junkies, and not the saint’s scriptures declare them to be.

Slavery in the United States was abolished by the 13th Amendment on December 18th, 1865. How many slaves were there on December 19th? In reality, none, but many still lived like slaves. Many did because they never learned the truth; others knew and even believed they were free but chose to live as they had been taught.

Several plantation owners were devastated by this proclamation of emancipation. “We’re ruined! Slavery has been abolished. We’ve lost the battle to keep our slaves.” But their chief spokesman slyly responded, “Not necessarily; as long as these people think they’re still slaves, the proclamation of emancipation (liberation, freedom, deliverance, release) will have no practical effect. We no longer have a legal right over them, but many don’t know it. Keep your slaves from learning the truth, and your control over them will not even be challenged.” “But, what if the news spreads?” “Don’t panic. We have another barrel in our gun. We may be unable to keep them from hearing the news, but we can still keep them from understanding it.

Emancipation is the process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions. – liberation, freedom, deliverance, release

Satan – “They don’t call me the father of lies for nothing. We still have the potential to deceive the whole world. Just tell them that they misunderstood the 13th Amendment. Tell them that they will be free, not that they are free already. Someday, they may receive the benefits, but not now.” “But they’ll expect me to say that. They won’t believe me.” “Then pick out a few persuasive ones who are convinced that they’re still slaves and let them do the talking for you. Remember, most of these free people were born as slaves and have lived like slaves. All we have to do is to deceive them so that they still think like slaves. As long as they continue to do what slaves do, it will not be hard to convince them that they must still be slaves. They will maintain their slave identity because of the things they do. The moment they try to profess that they are no longer slaves, just whisper in their ear, ‘How can you even think you are no longer a slave when you are still doing things that slaves do?’ After all, we have the capacity to accuse the brethren day and night.”

Years later, many have still not heard the wonderful news that they have been freed, so naturally, they continue to live the way they have always lived. Some have heard the good news but evaluated it by what they are presently doing and feeling. They reason, “I’m still living in bondage, doing the same things I have always done. My experience tells me that I must not be free. I’m feeling the same way I was before the proclamation, so it must not be true. After all, your feelings always tell the truth.” So, they continue to live according to how they feel, not wanting to be hypocrites!

One former slave hears the good news and receives it with great joy. He checks out the validity of the proclamation and finds out that the highest of all authorities has originated the decree. Not only that, but it personally cost the authority a tremendous price, which He willingly paid so that he could be free. His life is transformed. He correctly reasons that it would be hypocritical to believe his feelings and not believe the truth. Determined to live by what he knows to be true, his experiences began to change rather dramatically. He realizes his old master has no authority over him and does not need to be obeyed. He gladly serves the one who set him free.

 

Many Christians today never learned the truth about their freedom. For some of those who know the truth, slavery was the only life that they knew. So many Christians remain in bondage because they will not take the time to learn about their freedom.

 

John 8:30-36 (NKJV) ³⁰ Then many who heard him say these things believed in Him. ³¹Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 

• The word “abide” means to habitually abide in Jesus’ words. A genuine believer holds fast, obeys, and practices Jesus’ teaching. The one who continues in His teaching has both the Father and the Son (2 John 9; cf. Heb. 3:14; Rev. 2:26). Real disciples are both learners (the basic meaning of the word) and faithful followers.

³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

• Know – more than the accumulation of facts, it is an intimate knowledge that requires time and effort. It is the process of sanctification that starts at salvation.

 

³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

• AMP – ³⁴ Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, everyone who practices sin habitually is a slave of sin.
• In this passage, it is in a verb tense, indicating a habitual, continual action. The person in habitual sin is a slave of sin.

 ³⁵ And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

• Slavery to sin is the worst kind of slavery because there is no escape from ourselves. A Son must set us free, and the Son of God sets us free and brings us into the household of God.

 ³⁶ Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

• Romans 8:2 (NLT) And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
• Galatians 5:1 (NLT) So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

vs 35 – we see a progression. When we submit to the Lordship of Christ, we then become Christ’s slaves. But He doesn’t let us remain as His slaves. We become the sons and daughters of the Most High God.

 

The passage has three features:

1. the progress of freedom (vs. 31, 32)
2. the presumption of freedom (vs. 33, 34)
3. the promise of freedom (vs. 35, 36)

 

Freedom isn’t the ability to simply choose; it isn’t Free Will. For a believer, it is the ability (imputed grace) to make the right choice.

If you really want to find True, Continuous, Lasting Freedom, concentrate on learning who you are “In Christ.”

 

Who am I?

• I have been given the Power to become a Child of God.
  • John 1:12
• I am a joint heir with Christ
  • Romans 8:17
• I am a temple – a dwelling place of God
  • 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19
• I am a member of Christ’s Body
  • 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30
• I am reconciled to God
  • 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19
• I am a Saint
  • Ephesians 1:1
• I am righteous and holy
  • Ephesians 4:24
• I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved
  • Colossians 3:4
• I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession
  • 1 Peter 2:9, 10
• I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live
  • 1 Peter 2:9, 10