Our Identity in Christ
How knowing our identity in Christ equips us for relationships
Jay Wegter, www.gospelforlife.org
In our seminar we will explore some of the following relational
blessings that flow from our identity in Christ:
Your identity is what you look to—to define you, it provides the basis for your ultimate meaning, significance, fulfillment, love, purpose, and belonging.
The big question we all face is: What defines my life? That’s why a Christian’s identity in Christ is so important: it tells us who we are, who we used to be, what our purpose in life is, what we are becoming, and what our relationships are all about.
As Christians, we are locked in combat in a culture war that has radically
differing ideas about what will give a person his or her identity.
We live in an identity-hungry culture. Your identity is a battle ground because the world is filled with counterfeit sources of identity. The gospel is a whole different way of seeing. It radically transforms your relationships because it defines who God is toward you in Christ and who you are in Christ.
One of the major impediments to close relationships is apathy and self-protection.
Reckoning our identity in Christ is the answer.
We fear being known, having our sins discovered, or our spiritual immaturity uncovered. Or we have some apprehension that a discipleship relationship or close commitment will impact our freedom and independence. The gospel answer is that our identity in Christ provides the strength, love, and security from which we can risk drawing close to the brethren for the purpose of mutual edification. The growing believer takes great delight in being set free by Christ in order to serve in love.
Our identity in Christ is continually realized only as we keep preaching the
Gospel to self.
We must keep our identity in Christ in view by ‘matching’ His all-sufficient Savior-hood with our sinner-ship—always dwelling upon how His redeeming work is a perfect fit for our ruin (Heb 7:25-27). Reckoning who we are in Christ means that our identity in Him will exert a greater sway upon our choices and upon our relationships.
- The church as the Body of Christ on earth is a supernatural community —‘supernatural’ because all true believers are in union with Christ and in union with one another by means of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13).
Our joy is tied to the fact that our relationships within the body of Christ are to incarnate the virtues and character of Christ in such a way that, as Jesus said in John 17:21, “the world might believe that the Father sent Me.”
God has called us to live out our supernatural connection to Christ and to one
another.
Each member of the Body is to always be translating the vertical (one’s relationship with Christ) into the horizontal (one’s relationship with the brethren). We do this ‘translating’ through spiritual fellowship and discipleship. Fulfilling relationships take place when we find our purpose in being a channel of Christ’s love, truth, and grace to others.