Identity in Christ

One of my favorite bands was The Who growing up. They wrote a hit song called who are you. My question today is, who are you? Do you know?

What is identity? Oxford’s definition is who or what a person or thing is.

One of the biggest crisis going on in the nation is a crisis of identity. We havee ither forgot who we are, or we never had a revelation of who we are. Due to this crisis, false doctrines have developed, people are not living to their potential, and we are seeing generations collapse on themself. We are seeing skyrocketing depression, anxiety, drug use, etc.

Antonyms to include contradiction or disagreement. We live in a society that is in disagreement with God’s word, and people are living their life as a walking contradiction.

Sin thrives where identity is uncertain. When we dont let the the Father tell us who we are in Christ, we let the world tell us who we are and who were supposed to be.

Ill start with a funny story and a personal testimony about my struggle with identity. My legal name is Charles. But my whole life I was never called Charles, I was called Charlie. For 17 years of my life, I had no clue my name was Charles. When I went to enlist in the Marine corps, I signed and labelled all the paperwork as Charlie Bishop For approximately 100 pieces of paper. I turned it in, being happy to finally be done with it. But SSgt Murphy and Sgt Torres laughed and told me I had to redo it and I cannot use my nickname Charlie. With such conviction, I replied that is my legal name. Needless to say, I learned that day that my real name was Charles, and I had more paperwork to do. But the military couldnt accept the first set of paperwork. Had i not renewed my mind and accepted I was Charles, I never would have been able to join the Marine Corps. Not knowing who you are in Christ, will keep you from your God given purpose.

My personal testimony. I had experienced sexual abuse growing up and was exposed to porn, and drug use. A lot of it left a mark with me. When I got into the Marine corps, it later caught up with me. I then became sexually confused and then found myself in the LGBTQ. All my friends affirmed me that was who I was. I always had something in me that told me this was not right. But everyone affirmed that it was my identity and it cannot be changed. The enemy often attacks your identity through relationships, Christ in you is either nurtured by your circle, or choked out.

Where identity is uncertain, the heart is fertile soil for the seeds of doubt to take root.

The enemy didn’t sit and attack my behavior, he sowed seeds of doubt about my identity. Which then took root. If the enemy can get you confused about who you are, then he doesn’t care about what you do. Because the fruit that will be produced from those seeds, will produce after its kind. You see, Identity precedes behavior. Meaning how we act is directly proportionate to how we see ourselves. Many people still see themselves as their past sins, bondage, or past identities and not how God sees them through Jesus.

If I see myself as broken, I’ll live as broken.

If I see myself as being forgiven, then I will live as forgiven.

Story about the prince

In the 1700s, during a period of political unrest in Europe, there’s a true story told about a young prince who was separated from his royal family during a violent uprising. For his own safety, he was smuggled out of the palace and placed with a poor family in the countryside.

The plan was temporary. But chaos followed. Records were lost. The rebellion dragged on.
And the prince was never reclaimed.

He grew up believing he was a peasant.

He worked the fields. He wore patched clothing. He lived day to day wondering if his life would ever amount to more than survival. Though he often felt different—a sense that he was meant for more—he never understood why.

Years later, when the rebellion ended, officials went searching for the lost heir. They found him not on a throne—but behind a plow.

When they told him who he really was, he didn’t believe them.
“How could I be royalty?” he asked. “I’ve lived like this my whole life.”

Then they showed him the evidence:
• the royal seal he had worn as a baby
• the birth records
• witnesses who had protected him

The truth didn’t change his past—but it changed his future.

The moment he accepted his identity, everything changed:
He didn’t have to earn royalty.
He didn’t have to prove it.
He simply had to believe who he was.

Question: How many of us have been the Prince at one time? We were living lower then what we were purposed for.

King James Version Chapter 12

Romans 12:1-2

New living translation 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2, NLT)

“Paul doesn’t say, ‘Let God transform you by fixing your behavior.’ He says, ‘Let God transform you by changing the way you think.’ Because identity always comes before behavior.”

You see, the prince had to renew his mind to the fact that he was actually royalty. He had conformed to the world for a good portion of his life, but once he renewed his mind to the truth, he was able to live out his life as the royalty he was.

So who are we, and how are we made?.

Imago Dei-

Legacy Standard Bible CHAPTER 1

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

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

Image in hebrew is B’Tselem- Meaning shadow. God is light. We are his reflected shadow. We reflect His presence, His likeness, He created us to be close to Him. Just as a shadow casted by light is as close to the object as possible. You see our identity is based on Imago Dei. How blessed we are to abide in the shadow of the almighty God.

To understand our true identity, we must first recgonize that we are created in the image of God. What a blessing it is that we are exactly like our Father. When my brother had his first kid, I often joked with him that his kid looked nothing like him. But as the kid grew up, it was apparent he was a direct mirror image of my brother. He even talked and acted like him. As we mature in the Lord, the more we start to look like, act like and speak like Jesus

Imago dei is the reminder that identity comes from the creator, and not from the culture. Every human bears the resemblance of the creator.

Well brother Charles, Does God really still see us this way? You dont know what i have been through, the trauma I have endured, what was spoken over me wrongly. Some of you were not treated as the image bearers of God throughout your life, but your worth is not determine by what was done to you, but who you were created by.

This is also noted in James. In James 3:9 We use our tongue to praise God our Father and then turnaround and curse a person who was made in his very image!

We live in a society where the cultural tries to tell us what our worth is. This comes in many forms. Accolades, careers, financial worth, how many posessions we have, etc. But our worth cannot be in anything else except that we were made in the image of God. Everyone we encounter has worth, We have to remember that God valued us so much that Jesus came down from heaven, paid a price that we could never pay, and restored us and our image back to the Father. Which goes into my second point-

2. Im just an old sinner saved by grace.

If anyone had a revelation of identity it was the apostle Paul. In 1 Tim 1:15- Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners. Paul was never slack when it came to admitting past faults. Paul pointed out who he was, not who he still is and always will be. But constantly through the Pauline epistles, we see his true identity come out. We start to see forgiven, chosen, blessed, complete, loved, etc. In 1st corinthians Paul even told them 6:11 (AMPC) And such some of you were [once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin), and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed), and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.

They were no longer these adulters, idolaters, homosexuals, drunkards etc. By Jesus’s complete payment for sin, they are now Purified, set apart, and justified!

Romans 6:6- Paul reveals that the old man is crucified with Christ. Our old identity is nailed to the cross

You see, you first have to die to self . Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ephesians 4:22-24 gives us the three step process on how to do get rid of our old identities and embrace our true identity.

Legacy Standard Bible CHAPTER 4

22 to lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and to put on the new man, which cin the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Take off the old, renew our minds with God’s word, and put on the new. Or in Phillippians 3:13, Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

Most people who are born again do not realize who they really are in Christ! Just like the prince only saw himself as a beggar, we tend to still see ourself as our past.

When something dies, it ceases to live. It is dead, and gone. Our old identity has already died, so why do we try to ressurect the old, when our new is already ressurected with Christ?

How many have seen the Chosen? Matthew talking to Gaius tells him that every day he wakes up, he only has one thing to do, and that is to follow Jesus.

Everyday we have a direct choice. Do we walk in the spirit or walk after the flesh. God gives us the grace to walk in newness of life. TO walk in the fruit of the spirit. As we spend time in the word, and spend time at the feet of Jesus, we start to renew our mind to the righteous way life we are called to.

In sit, walk, stand by Watchman nee he imparts wisdom on identity in christ and living the christian life.  “Sitting describes our position in Christ in the Heavenlies, Walking is the practical outworking of that Heavenly position here on earth.

It is when we realize our true identity in Christ and where our position is, do we really start to reflect what is on the inside.

I do not usually read the contemporary english version. But in Luke 6:45 it makes it clear as day. Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart.

- But this doesnt just apply to words, it aplies to actions as well. Remember the story of the prince? He saw himself as a common person. He couldn’t believe he would ever be royalty based on how he saw himself. But once he discovered the truth, it changed how he saw himself, and then how he lived.

You’re probably thinking, ‘Well brother Charles… if I’m forgiven and made new, why do I still feel stuck sometimes? Why do I still doubt myself?’ And that’s exactly the point.

Even after we’ve put off the old, put on the new, and embraced our identity in Christ, the enemy doesn’t just pack up and leave. He doesn’t care about your past mistakes — he wants to whisper lies about who you are right now. He wants to make you question the very truth of God’s Word. ‘You’re not enough,’ he says. ‘You’ll never change.’ ‘No one could really love you.’

And here’s the part we all struggle with: those lies are subtle. They don’t hit you like a lightning bolt. They creep in through doubt, through comparisons, through the voices of those around us — friends, family, even the culture — telling us we’re something less than what God says we are.

So that’s why our next point is so critical. It’s not about your past — it’s about recognizing the enemy’s attacks on your identity today and learning to stand firm in the truth of who God says you are. Let’s dive into that now.”**

3. How to recgonize the attacks?

The primary attack of the enemy is to attack our identity. He attempts to sow seeds of doubt and gets us to question our identity. Lets look at Jesus in the desert.

Legacy Standard Bible CHAPTER 4

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.

3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

We see that the enemy first attacks identity. The enemy is trying to sow doubt into Jesus identity. As we established earlier that “ Identity precedes behavior”. Jesus knew his identity, so we see that his behavior follows that.

How did Jesus respond?

Legacy Standard Bible CHAPTER 4

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

He proclaimed God’s word! When the enemy comes and attacks our identity, we proclaim what God’s word says!

Satan says: You are condemned

We say: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

Satan says: God will never forgive you

We say: He made Him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Satan says: No one loves you. No one could ever love you.

We say: Nothing could ever seperate me from the Love of God. Romans 8:39

Lies can only be dismantled when we counter it with truth.

The question I have for you today is, who are you?

Will you let the world try to label you with an identity, or will you trust that the God who created the cosmos and created each person individually in His own image,

Conclusion- You see a lot of the problems caused in the world by the fact that we have lost connection to our true identity. The same God that created the Cosmos and holds the universe together with just His word, is the same God that created us. Not only did he create us, he made us in His exact image. We were made for more then just the mundane. We are more then conquerors in Christ. We are complete in Him. By his stripes, we are healed! We are restored. We are loved. You see after the creation of the world and man, God rested from all work. Today, Jesus is calling you to rest in His finished work on the cross, and discover who you really are.

What old identities or labels are you holding onto still? Whether it was when you were young, or today. What seeds did you allow to take root? Let’s pray. Lord, Search my heart and know me, whatever false identities I allowed to take root, weed it out. Let your word take root in my heart, I say yes to who you say I am, and no to who the world says I am.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul writes to the Galatians, reminding them that their true identity is not bound by cultural or societal labels but by their relationship with Christ: 'For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.' This declaration reveals that our identity in Christ transcends any earthly status, proving that in Him, we are accepted and valued. It reshapes how we view ourselves and live our lives.

I encourage you brothers and sisters. Continue to renew your mind to who you are in Christ. When my wife and I separated, I went to work on myself through the word of God. I wrote down scriptures and proclamations on sticky notes. I put them up on the mirror. Every morning I would wake up, I would go look into the physical mirror, as well as the spiritual mirror. I would look at myself and declare who scripture says I am. Every morning I made it a habit. As I did that, I was healed of all depression and anxiety. I never saw myself as my past sins or bond age anymore. I got off all medications ( I was on 7 at that point). I then started to see myself as how God saw me. It changed my ministry and y life. It changed how I carried myself. It changed other peoples lives at work. I was no longer this depressed person, I was healed and had authority, and went into my job as a paramedic and started to minister the love of God to others and laid my hands on the sick in a more intentional way, some of which I saw them recover in real time, to include seeing a stroke get healed, as well as seeing the dead rise. Renewing your mind to who God says you are will not only change your life, it will radically impact other peoples lives through your ministry.