Our Christian Identity

Where in life do we find our identity? I remember being challenged by this when I was driving city bus. I have this cool belt buckle that Criston got for me for fathers day. Originally she got me a different one that broke. I think she was sick of my tacky spinner belt buckle. I wore this all the time and it was an interesting conversation starter. People would ask me about it and I would tell them I use to be a pastor. but then I was convicted of something, am I finding my identity as a pastor or as a follower of Jesus and a child of God? Was I embarrassed about being a follower of Jesus enough that I was not going to say anything? A pastor is what i did, what God had called me to do, but my identity is a child of God. There is a difference. Many times this belt buckle has led to conversations.

Where do we find our identity and how does that change our lives? Think of it like a passport. To go to another country we have to show the immigration people our passport which includes in it everything about us. if we have ever done anything wrong then they can look it up and deny us entry. They can see lots about our lives and what country we belong to. They can deny us entry into their country based on the information they receive when running our passport. Most of our identity is seen in that passport.

When it comes to the essentials of the faith, where our identity is can be very important. This is one aspect in the Theology of humanity, but I wanted to deal with this one aspect today. Another way of putting it is where do you find meaning in life? Is your identity tied to what you do for a living? How much money you make? is it in the mistakes you have made? or maybe as a parent or wife or husband?

Our identity and meaning in life is not seen in what we do or have done but rather it is in being children of God

Our identity needs to be in Jesus. It is our passport to heaven you could say. Our meaning in life, who we are needs to be tied to our relationship to Jesus. He is all that matters when we are children of God. But why is this important and why should we care?

11-14 - Peters Sin

I want to go to a passage i Galatians to explain what I mean by having our identity in Christ. Sometimes what happens is we struggle with the part of living our what it means to be a child of God. We go back to what was going on before, and we fail to live our lives as children of God.

This is what Peter had a problem with. The book of Galatians was written by Paul, but here we see him confront Peter.

Galatians 2:11 CSB

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

It took me a second to remember who Cephas was, but that was the Aramaic spelling of Peter. The name Peter is Greek for rock, Cephas is the Aramaic word for rock. Paul had condemned Peter for something.

Galatians 2:12–13 CSB

12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. 13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

This would have been after Acts 15 when the churches where having troubles with the new way of doing things. so the issues where brought to the apostles an the elders to see if the laws they where trying to impose on the new gentile believers was of God or not.

They had realized things had changed, Jesus had fulfilled the law and now they where children of Jesus and no longer jew and Gentiles but the church of God.

Peter had troubles with this though it seems like. He was a follower of Jesus, He knew things had changed, that His identity was now in jesus and no longer the law.

Peter forgot all of this and gave into the pressures of the legalistic Jews. He went from freely eating and meeting with the gentiles to fearing what the legalistic Jews would say and he withdrew and stopped doing that.

It was Peter that received the vision from the Lord that informed HIM THAT HINGS WHERE CHANGING. He should have known better. Peter had suddenly become a hypocrite.

Paul called Him out on his hypocrisy. Saying one things and doing another. Peter knew the truth yet when confronted with opposition he caved.

Galatians 2:14 CSB

14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Paul’s concern was for the truth of the Gospel. If you are a child of God, if your identity is in Jesus then our lives should reflect the truth of the gospel.

This is the first thing that we learn. If we are followers of Jesus, if we find our identity in Jesus then our lives need to reflect the gospel. Peter struggled with this it would seem like, remembering that His identity was now in Jesus.

Are we believing and practicing the truths that come with being a child of God. You cant just say one thing and do another, our lives need to reflect your words. And this is not just any beliefs out there but what the bible says. Does your passport say you are a christian? then your life should reflect it.

15-17 - Our identity is not in what we do

The second thing we learn is that our identity is not in our past and what we used to be or what we have done.

Galatians 2:15–16 CSB

15 We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,” 16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

We are not justified by what we have done or the laws that we follow but rather we are justified by our faith in Jesus. Even the Jews, who lived by the law for for so many generations where now saved by faith. What they had trouble understanding is that the law always pointed to Jesus, always pointed to a messiah that was going to come fulfill it.

Our identity as followers of Jesus is not in our past, what we have done or what we are doing. this may seem a bit contradictory when you take into account the first point that I brought up. Yes the way we live is vital as followers of Jesus but our salvation comes by Faith. we are declared right we are told in verse 16 not by what we have done but by our faith in Jesus, then our lives reflect that.

Justification by faith is the term we use here, which we will get into later in a different sermon. Righteousness is the Godly standard by which we are going to be held. Unfair it may seem, since the bible says that on our own there is no way that we can hold up to this standard. The Jews tried, we try but only through faith in Jesus. It is His righteousness that makes us children of God. This is part of what it means to have our identity in Jesus.

When people look at us they see Jesus, or at least they should see Him. I have a friend who is not a follower of Jesus, not for lack of trying. He has a problem with alcohol and drugs. When people in the community see Him they see his problems and they look down upon him. He is a nice guy when you get past the rough exterior. But as someone who is not a follower of Jesus people look at him and see his problems, because he lives in them.

But what happens when someone like that does come to Jesus? do we see their sins and problems they used to have? maybe at first but as their lives change we look at them as a child of God whose lives have been changed for they now have the righteousness of Jesus.

Our identity is not in what we have done as followers of Jesus but rather in the righteousness that has been imparted on us.

18-21 - Our identity is in Christ

there is an argument that says that Jesus is then a promoter of sin.

Galatians 2:17 CSB

17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!

By eliminating the law as the means of justification then you eliminate the moral responsibility that comes from the law. Does Jesus then become a proponent of sin because the law no longer applies like it did in the days of Moses? No it is not true. Yes we still sin and make mistakes but that is not the fault of Jesus, that is Satan tempting us and us falling for it over and over again. we go back yet again to the righteousness of Jesus and knowing that we are found in Him

We follow the moral law Jesus laid out for us. when we sin it is our mistakes, our turning away from Jesus. We need to remember that as followers of Jesus He has taken our sin

Galatians 2:18–19 CSB

18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God.

If we turn to the law as followers of Jesus and use that as the basis for living live for Jesus we are bound to become sinners because we cant hope to follow the law. The law no longer has dominion over us.

But This does not mean that we dont need to live according to a set of STANDARDS TO BE FOLLOWERS OF Jesus. the LAW IS NOT WHAT WE PROPOSE TO FOLLOW, but rather the commands of Jesus and how he fulfilled the law of God. What the old law did is point to our need for Jesus and we do need to live for Him according to How He told us to live.

This all points to the main idea behind the passage, this all points to why we do what we do as followers of Jesus.

Galatians 2:20–21 CSB

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

We have died to the law so we may live for Christ. We have died to our old lives so we may be found in Christ. That old way of life, it is no longer valid we are now followers of Jesus. It is the only hope worth having.

Jesus died on the cross for sin, we died to our sin because as followers of Jesus He took that sin upon Himself. Jesus rose again to defeat sin and death, so we rise to newness of life and look forward to the day that we will go to be with Him. We do this only because of Jesus in Us. The law has no dominion over us but points us to our need for a savior to fulfill it for us.

we sometimes think to earn our salvation through what we do is a noble act, as if we can be commended for earning our way to heaven. But it is through the grace of God that we are saved, it is through humility that we are saved.

It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. All the preamble to support the fact that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. Our past lives, thinking we can earn our way to Jesus, thinking all ways of religion lead to God, all that perishes at the idea that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

So what?

Are we believing and practicing the truths that come with being a child of God

we are not saved by the law, we are not to live according to the law. The mistake Peter made was forgetting this, or feeling the pressure to turn back to the law. But as followers of Jesus we remember the fact that we practice what Jesus has taught us to practice. As followers of Jesus we find joy in living our lives according to the one that died for us. Not the law but the life of Jesus that fulfilled the law. To be a follower of Jesus we must act accordingly.

Our identity is not in what we we have done.

We must remember that no matter what you have done, as a follower of Jesus that has been wiped clean. Our passports have changed. Gone are the past mistakes that we have made. Jesus righteousness has been imparted on to us. This is not an excuse to sin, but rather as we struggle with sin remember that If you are a child of God that it is...... (see below)

Not I but Christ in me.

We must remember that it is not I but Christ in me. We who have died to sin through the death of Jesus look forward to the day when we will rise again and be with Jesus. Until then we have risen to a new life and walk with Jesus as He taught us how to walk. When we struggle with sin go back to this point, it is not I but Christ in Me. We are followers of Jesus.Our identities our seen as forgiven, loved By God as children of Jesus and image bearers of God. But this also comes with the responsibility of acting and living accordingly. You to can gain the identity of a forgiven by Jesus.