Identity in Christ: A Design from Creation

Identity

Our Identity Through Creation

Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.”

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

Our Intended Design through Creation

Colossians 1:16

For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him

Jeremiah 1:4–10

The word of the LORD came to me: I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

Then the LORD said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with My words. See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

Psalm 139:14

I will praise You because I have been [fearfully] and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.

Our Identity Broken through Sin

Genesis 3:16–19

He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you.

You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

Our Identity Restored through Sacrifice

Genesis 3:21

The LORD God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them

Romans 3:24–25

They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

Our Identity in Christ is a Personal Choice

“We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are, as Newman said, rebels who must lay down our arms.”

—C. S. Lewis

From the moment a creature becomes aware of God as God and of itself as self, the terrible alternative of choosing God or self for the centre is opened to it.

—C. S. Lewis

Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day’s work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do.

Richard Baxter (Puritan Divine)

Our Identity in Christ from the Savior: Why Christ Showed Up

Mark 2:17

When Jesus heard this, He told them, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”