Sermon Tone Analysis

Conference sermon.

D.A. Carson.

My words, his outline.

What is our identity?

I’ll let you answer that question.

I know some of you will try to answer my question with Jesus Christ, or Christian, or something.

But, I don’t want you to, not yet.

We live in a society which is grasping at so many things to base their identity on.

People will base their identity on the color of their skin, the gender they identify with.

They will base their identity on who they love, or the job they pursue.

They will base their identity on their kids or their parents, on their grades or their school.

We could talk about the truth or falsehood in each of those identities.

But, we are not.

The simple fact is, if we put our identity in any of those things, our identity is false.

We are not defined by any of those things.

Those of you who were going to answer Christ, you would be right.

He is our identity, now.

However, how do we live that identity.

It is one thing to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our identity, if we are his follower.

It is another thing to live like it.

Today, we are going to talk about our self-identity.

Let’s read Colossians 3:1-17

Pray

Through this passage, we will see our identity as living at the right address, wearing the right clothes, and singing the right song.

Live at the Right Address

Let’s look at living at the right address.

Paul says something really strange at the beginning of the passage.

He says that

How many of you are physically dead?

Yeah, neither am I. But, Paul says that we have died and that we have been raised with Christ, and now live with him above with Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God.

How is this so?

Paul throughout his epistles speaks of the heavenly realm

Ephesians is a great example of what he says.

Chapter 1 speaks of the blessings with which God has blessed us.

Think about all the things which God has blessed us in Christ.

We have forgiveness in him, a forgiveness that we do not have to earn.

We have a relationship with him.

We have joy, and peace, and hope.

Paul continues and says that we have those blessings because Christ is in the heavenly realm.

In Chapter 2, Paul says that not only is Christ in the heavenly realm but we are in the heavenly realm.

What does that mean?

In chapter 3, God’s message is broadcast to those in the Heavenly realm.

Finally, not only does Paul teach that God’s blessing come from the heavenly realm, Christ is in the heavenly realm, we are in the heavenly realm, God’s message is broadcast throughout the heavenly realm, but God’s message is broadcast to the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly Realm.

Everything we are as a follower of Christ is wrapped up in the Heavenly Realm.

Our blessings are there, our savior is there, our mission is there, our enemy is there.

The truth is: our identity is those who abide in the Heavenly Realm, not as those who abide on this earth.

We can look at our life and say: You know, Christ has not yet come.

I am living in the struggle against sin.

I am surrounded by the pain of this life.

I see more and more each day the realities of this world.

Christ is in heaven, yes, but I am not.

Paul is declaring what theologians call a “Spatial understanding of an inaugurated kingdom.”

An inaugurated kingdom speaks of our view of the end times.

We believe that Christ is coming again to bring us into glory.

He is bringing judgment on the world and perfection to his followers.

We know that will happen, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Wonders are happening around us.

They started at the moment of Christ ascension, following the timeline until Christ’s glorious return.

The inaugurated kingdom means that, yes, Christ is coming again and we see evidences of his kingdom now.

Our salvation is one such evidence.

Technically, we are saved when we stand before the throne of God, but we are saved at the moment of faith through Christ and he leads us to that moment of ultimate salvation when God declares us righteous and opens his kingdom to us.

The spatial understanding, says: In many ways, I am not there in eternity.

I am not in the Heavenly realm and I can fill up a book describing all those ways, but Christ is there.

Therefore I am.

Paul says: I identify with Christ so much, so that: I know Christ is in heaven, therefore I am there to.

That’s what he saying about dying with Christ.

When we celebrate baptism, the person baptized declares that they have identified with Christ.

His death is theirs.

His resurrection is theirs.

His life is theirs.

Since we identify with Christ for our salvation, we identify with him for our life.

We trust him not just for our salvation, but for our sanctification, our service, our shepherding.

He is our life.

He is in heaven, therefore, if we identify with him, we are there to.

Which means, since I am there, I should set my mind on things above, on things of the Heavenly realm.

Paul writes in Galatians 2:20-21

I live my life as if I were living in the heavenly realm, proclaiming the Gospel with my life and living against the spiritual forces of evil every single day.

I live my life, looking at all my choices of how to act, what to say, what to pursue or prioritize, and anything which belongs to this world order in my life I kill.

John Owen, an old Puritan preacher, wrote a short book “The Mortification of Sin” based on Rom 8 13 “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

By mortification of sin, he meant killing sin.

He believed that Christians of his day were too at peace with the world.

We could say the same thing.

Too often, I live as if my address is 808 E. 3rd St, Neligh, instead of the perfect place prepared for me by my savior in the heavenly realm.

To often I do not put to death the things of this world order.

Instead, I embrace them.

But, when I do:

I am saying that I do not live in the Heavenly Realm and therefore I do not identify with Christ, for my life or my salvation.

Let’s stop with the excuses.

We are to live at the right address.

Wear the Right Clothes

Paul says we are to wear the right clothes.

He moves from discussing where we live to what we wear.

He says that we are to take off certain actions.

Some of those actions, we would most definitely say that we do not want to do.

Others of those actions, we find excuses to indulge in.

But, Paul does not give us any wiggle room.

We are to take off those actions, and we are to put on other actions.

Before we discuss those other actions, let’s point out something.

Paul’s discuss of wearing the right clothes is not a discussion of conversion.

He is pointing to people who are saved.