Christ: Our True Identity

In the small town of Stepanavan, Armenia, there is a woman who known not by her family name or her given name. She is not known for what her personality is or what her interests are. She is simply known as “the wife of Mr. Palasan.”

Many in our culture wouldn’t consider it an honor for a woman to be known primarily by her husband’s name. But for this woman, it’s actually a very high honor, a sign of great respect for her because of who she was married to. Her husband, Mr. Palasan, was the young man, the young husband and father, who became known for his bravery and courage during the 1988 earthquake.

This earthquake devastated Armenia, especially Northern Armenia. Not only because northern Armenia was the epicenter of the earthquake, but also because the buildings in those northern cities were built during the early days of the Soviet Union. Let’s just say a lot of the buildings were built with cost-effectiveness primarily in mind, rather than structural integrity. Things were so bad in Armenia after the earthquake, in fact, that Mikhail Gorbachev reached out to the United States asking for help, despite the fact that the Cold War had made U.S.-Soviet relations pretty icy. This earthquake was so devastating, and the buildings so poorly constructed, that the death toll is estimated at anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 souls, with over 130,000 people injured. [Wikipedia, 1988 Armenian earthquake, accessed April 30, 2021]

So Mr. Palasan, young Armenian husband and father, was at his job when the earthquake struck around noon. He leaves his job immediately and races to the school building where his young son was a student. He gets to the building and sees that the front facade of the building is already crumbling and the rest of the building looks extremely unstable. But his little boy is in there, and he’s the only thing Mr. Palasan can think about. He races in the building, despite the danger, and rescues his son, but not his son only. Mr. Palasan helped not only his son, but 28 children out of the building. You probably know where the story is going at this point. Having helped out his son and 28 children, an aftershock hits. The aftershock was powerful enough to critically destabilize the building and it collapsed with him inside. [Rowell, p. 120]

Six thousand families were homeless in that town after the earthquake. But 28 more children got to see their families that night because of him than would have without him. And that’s why the Armenian town of Stepanavan began calling his young widow Mrs. Palasan. And that is why it is such an honor to her.

Regardless of how much you know, what you accomplish, how much money you’re worth, what your house looks like or what you look like — no matter how much you do in this world — far more important than that is who you are in Christ. Like Mrs. Palasan, as Christians we are known and defined primarily by the name of another, whose name is Jesus. The Bible tells us that if we’ve trusted in Him, we are one with Him forever. We are no longer defined by our sin or our failures or our insecurities or anything else. We are defined by Him, because we are one with Him. And so tightly are we joined to Him by the Holy Spirit that what is true of Him is more true of us than anything that’s true of us. We have a new identity in Him. And that changes everything.

Will you notice with me three things that are true of us because of our new identity in Christ?

#1: Because we have a new identity in Christ, we have a new home (v. 1a)

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 3

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

We’ve already talked about conversion — what happened to us when we trusted in Christ — we’ve already talked about that as a change of spiritual address.

My wife and I will soon celebrate our 15th anniversary, and during those 15 years, we’ve lived a lot of different places. We’ve had a lot of different addresses. Our first address together was in Alexandria, VA, a DC suburb. We lived in a high rise apartment building just off I-395 in Duke Street in Alexandria. Then when I started seminary we moved to Wake Forest, NC, just north of Raleigh. Our address was 1051 Thornrose Way. When Noah was born, we moved out of that seminary neighborhod across town into another seminary housing complex to save some money on rent. Our address there was 68 McDowell Dr.

We lived there for about two years and then, when I started my first church, we moved into the parsonage there in Louisburg, NC, just north of Wake Forest - Franklin County. Our address there was 109 Laurel Mill Rd. Noah went to kindergarten just down the road from our house at Laurel Mill Elementary.

When we moved up this way so we could be closer to my parents because of Shannon’s headaches, we lived in Hickory. Hickory has crazy addresses. Ours was something-something 29th Street Court NE. That was always understood to be a temporary address for us until we could find a house more permanently in that area. We always wanted to move closer to the church I was pastoring then, so once we found something we moved to our current address in Lincoln County, which is 1433 Hulls Grove Church Rd., Vale. We’ve lived there for about 5 years.

Now, Lord willing, our goal is sometime this year or early next year to buy a house here in Cleveland County because we’d love to stay here at Buffalo as long as you’ll have us. But we haven’t gotten that far yet, so for now we don’t have a Shelby address; we still live at 1433 Hulls Grove Church Rd. in Vale. Neither, though, do we have a Hickory address or a Wake Forest address or an Alexandria address. We used to live in all those places, but those places no longer define us.

And in the same way, you and I are not defined by where we used to live spiritually. We’re not defined by our old spiritual addresses. If you are in Christ, if you’ve turned from sin and trusted in Him for salvation, the old you is gone. The new you has come. You may still occasionally go back to those old ways of life that used to characterize you, just as occasionally I like to reminisce about good memories in those old houses we loved in. We talk about the fun we had with the kids when they were little back then and all that, but we don’t drive back there and try to stay in that house again. That’s not where we live.

Paul has already introduced this idea of a change of spiritual address to the Colossians.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 2

12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

That’s why Paul begins this major new section of Colossians by reminding us of the fact that we have been raised up with Christ. What does it mean to be raised up with Christ? We know Christ is risen. We celebrate that every Easter and we ought to celebrate it every Sunday. We also know that the Bible teaches us that we who have trusted in Christ have been joined to Christ. One with Christ. Can the word of God, then, really be saying that in some sense we too have been raised up to new life - with Him? That’s exactly what it is saying!

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 2

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

In Christ, because of Christ, with Christ, the old Dustin has died and now the new Dustin is not only one with Jesus; the new Dustin shares in Christ’s resurrection and the new Dustin is actually so close to Jesus and so united with Jesus that what happened to Jesus happened to Dustin. Jesus died; the old Dustin died. Jesus rose; the new Dustin has risen with Him and shares with Him in His new life.

But that’s not all. Look at the second part of verse 1: “If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1 NASB). Jesus was raised up and seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven; in some sense that’s true of me even now. I have a new spiritual address, a new heavenly home, a new identity. But it’s not true of me because I’m a pastor or because I’m an especially good Christian or anything like that. It’s true of me simply because of my faith, and it’s true of everyone hear this morning who has faith in Christ; and it can be true of anyone here this morning who has not trusted in Christ.

Because you and I have a new identity in Christ, we have a new home; a new spiritual address. But also, because we have a new identity in Christ, we have a new focus.

#2: Because we have a new identity in Christ, we have a new focus (vv. 1b-2)

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 3

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 aSet your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

Why does the word of God remind us we have a new spiritual home?He doesn’t just say “you have been raised up with Christ.” He says, “If you have been raised up with Christ”. Paul is saying, “Do you really believe that you’ve become a new person? Do you really believe that these things are true? If you believe them, if they’re true, then it should make a difference in your life. So he says, “If you have been raised up with Christ” - and here it is - “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”

Every now and then I like to survey a lot of different Bible translations to see how certain words are translated. It can give you a sense of what’s really going on in the text. Can I share the fruit of my study with you?

“You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at the God’s right side. Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. You died, which means your life is hidden with Christ who sits beside God. Christ gives meaning to your life...” (Col. 3:1-3 CEV).

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.” (Col. 3:1-2 NLT).

"So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be (Col. 3:1-4 The Message).

“Keep seeking the things above.” Why? Because that is your new identity, your new home. “Set your heart on what is in heaven.” Why? Because that is your new identity; that is your new home. “Set your sights on the realities of heaven”. Why? because that is your new identity, your new home.

And this is the opposite of what is your tendency, though, right? Our tendency is to do what Paul says in the second half verse 2. “Set your minds on the things above” — that’s hard. What’s easier is the opposite: “not on the things that are on earth.”

Why do you think it’s so easy to focus our eyes on the things here, on earth? Why is it so hard to continuously turn our hearts to heaven? Why is it so against our grain to set our affections on Christ in heaven? Maybe a few reasons.

Why so hard?

1. Things on earth can seem immediately threatening

2. Things on earth can seem more compelling

3. Things on earth can be more immediately satisfying

Now just to be clear. This does not mean that we should never think about the affairs of this world. You have to sit down and budget and pay your bills. You have to plan meals and cook them and clean up. We have to go to work and do our jobs. We’re called to all kinds of worldly, ordinary things like voting, exercising, playing with our kids and grandkids, mowing the grass, tending the garden. This world may not be our forever home, but it is where we live right now. We may be just passing through, as the song goes, but we’re still here for the time being. The missionary and martyr Jim Eliot said famously, “Wherever you are, be all there.” Focusing on this world and spending time planning and thinking and strategizing — that’s not sin, that’s not wrong.

So what does Paul mean, then? Well, look at how he words verse 2: “Set your minds on the things above, not on the things below.” To set your minds on the things below, I think, means to live as though the things below is all there is. To set your minds on worldly things is more than just planning or thinking or working on our lives here in world. It means that these earthly things are bigger to you than heavenly things. It means that your unpaid bills and your debt loom larger in your mind than Jesus. It means that your health problems loom larger in your ind than Jesus. It means that your to-do list is so full and so long that it becomes your all-in-all. It means that obedience to Christ seems unreasonable, too hard, too unattainable, That’s what it looks like when you focus on the things of this earth.

Well, what does it look like to focus on the things above? What happens when I start to set my minds on the things above? When we focus on the things above, this world gets smaller, what happens here and to us here seems less consequential, even trivial. Jesus gets bigger, more compelling, obedience to Him more attractive and “doable”. It doesn’t mean you’re too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. It means that this world and the things in this world have their proper place, but Jesus is on the throne. It means that you enjoy Christ, and that you enjoy this world too, but that you only enjoy the things in this world as blessings from God, as an act of worship of God, and out of gratitude toward God. I like what John Wesley said about this.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church “Love Nothing but for His Sake”

Desire not to live, but to praise his name: Let all your thoughts, words, and works, tend to his glory. Set your heart firm on him, and on other things only as they are in and from him. Let your soul be filled with so entire a love of him, that you may love nothing but for his sake.

What are the things above? It’s knowledge of God. Understanding who He is, what He’s done for us, what He promises to do for us now and in the future. It’s learning what He’s like, what His character is like, what kind of God He is. It’s coming to understand Jesus, His humanity and His deity. Learning what He accomplished on the cross. Understanding on a deeper level the salvation we’ve been given. It’s coming to understand the Holy Spirit, who He is, what He does, what He is like, what His ministry is for us. And it’s coming to understand ourselves - who we are, what we’re created for, how we’re wired — not based on self-discovery, but based on discovery of ourselves as creatures in light of our Creator.

The “things above”

Requires knowledge of the Bible

Requires us to go as deep as we can

Requires us to read/study Bible on your own/with church

Now, three things, church. Three really important things about “the things above.”

First, you only come to understand these things by growing in the knowledge of the Bible. There God reveals Himself to us. There He reveals us to ourselves.

Second, I firmly believe, church, that every believer has a responsibility to go as deep into the things of God in the Bible as the mind God has given you will allow you to go. Every believer has a responsibility to go as deep into the things of God as the mind God has given you will allow you to go. By the way, with His help you’ll go as far as you’re able and even further.

Third, you do this through reading and studying the Bible on your own. You do this by reading and studying the Bible with your church family, like what we do on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

Contemporary Christian Magazine had a story some years back about a Christian music artist who had some unusual advice for his fellow, younger Christian music artists. He said that often they would come to him and say, “You’re so successful. How do you do it? If I don’t get to do what you’re doing, then I will never be happy.”

His response always amazed them. He would say, “Then you will never be happy. Happiness isn’t based on what you do for him; it’s based on who you are in him.” [Larson, p54]

Because we have a new identity in Christ, we have a new destiny.

#3: Because we have a new identity in Christ, we have a new destiny (vv. 3-4)

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 3

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Now we’ve already seen that we’ve died with Christ; we’ve already seen that we’ve been raised up with Christ. We’ve also seen that we’ve been seated already, even now, with Christ in heaven. But the apostle Paul doesn’t phrase it that way here. What he actually says is fascinating. Look with me at the second half of verse 3: “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Now, I gotta be honest with you. I don’t know exactly what this means. It sounds really cool. I believe it’s true. I want to understand it. So here’s what I think it means: I think Paul is referring to the absolute security of the believer in Christ.

Why do I think that? Two reasons.

The word “hidden” means something like protected, shielded, kept safe. It comes from a word that means to hold a shield over someone to shield them from danger. It also carries the idea of being hidden away, concealed, maybe even treasured or cherished. It’s a picture of God’s love for us and in particular, His love in action is preserving and protecting and shielding and cherishing us.

Second, He says we are hidden with Christ, in God. Can you imagine a safer place to be?

As I’m pushing middle age now, and as my parents are aging too, I’ve got to admit I’ve been thinking a little bit about the fact that one day I’m going to have to say goodbye to them, temporarily of course. And as I’ve thought about this, I’ve realized something. There’s a particular emotion I feel when I think about having to say goodbye to them, and I tried to identify it for a long time. I think I finally have. It’s vulnerability. I think I’ll feel vulnerable when they’re gone. Now, I don’t get to see them all the time, but there’s great comfort for me in just knowing that they’re there. They’re a phone call away. Or 30 minutes away if I want to see them in person. There is security found in just the simple fact that my mom and dad are here, on this earth. There’s safety there, stability there. What I think about when I think about them not being here any more is that somehow that leaves me vulnerable, exposed to danger.

But if this is true, that we’ve been hidden away with Christ, with whom we are welded together into an unbreakable union — and if it’s true that Christ, in turn, is hidden away in God, then it matters not how vulnerable we are in this world, because in Christ, we are locked away, hidden safely, concealed carefully, treasured deeply, valued exceedingly, in the heart of our Father God.

But not only are we presently secure in Christ. One day, verse 4 tells us, Jesus is going to be revealed to this world. He will be revealed publicly, the Bible says. He will be revealed gloriously, to believers, and frighteningly to non-believers. And we, verse 4 tells us, will be revealed along with Him, also in glory. Now we are hated in the eyes of the world; on that day we will be vindicated in the eyes of the world. Now we are hidden away, obscure, seen as irrelevant and silly and even hateful and dangerous by the world around us; then we will be revealed with the glory of Christ. That is our destiny. That’s our future.

Many of you know about my friend Gary Keener who had a stroke about two years ago. Gary was my best friend for many years. We met in college, we were both music majors, both trumpet players. We hit it off pretty quick as friends and spent a lot of time together. I spent a lot of time with his family there in Brevard where he grew up, and Gary came to my house a lot on weekends.

On December 31, 2018, Gary had an absolutely massive stroke. Previously healthy. It was a complete shock. He just loaded the dishwasher and turned it on for his wife and got in the shower, and that was the last thing he did as a healthy young man. I was sending him a message last night via text and went back and started looking through our old texts. The last normal communication I had with Gary was in September of that year, three months before his stroke. My friend Cory and I flew out to San Diego to see him about a week after his stroke while he was still in the hospital. He was alive, which is a miracle. But he couldn’t speak at all. His speech has come back a good bit, but still not anything like the Gary we remembered.

Which in a way was ironic. It was ironic — and kind of funny - that now Gary struggles with talking because that has never been his problem before. Gary was the guy you could never get to shut up! But it was also pretty sad for us because losing the ability to speak locks a person away in their own solitary world. When I saw Gary’s name flash across caller ID in years past, I would also answer kind of knowing I was going to be talking to him for a while. Now, I just can’t have a conversation with him. And I miss that.

But you know what is so cool? Gary’s ability to speak does not define him now. Gary is a believer! Gary loves Jesus! Me and Gary and my friend Cory — all three of us were suddenly and pretty dramatically saved the same year even though we were living separate lives. And man, did Gary change. He wasn’t the same person after he came to know Christ. He was a new man.

And that - the new creation that each of us has become in Christ — that is what defines him now. And his destiny is to be revealed in glory with a glorified body and glorified vocal chords before a watching world, when our Father decides it’s time to reveal His church — His perfect bride — to a watching world.

Conclusion and call for response

We pastors tend to evaluate ourselves by what we do, and how well we do it, pretty much like everybody else. We want to be seen as the pastor who’s church is growing, the pastor who’s relevant, the pastor who’s a great communicator. Even good goals like being able to teach the Bible well can become labels and identities that deep down have nothing to do with Christ. I do want to be those things. But when I really think about it, what I really want most — what I want to be remembered for - how I want others to see me - is this: I want to be known as a man who loves Jesus, and who, out of Jesus’ love for me, I then am able to love my family and my church and my community. That’s who I want to be.

How do you think of yourself? What is the primary thing you want to be known for? Do you want to be seen as smart? Capable? Strong? Fit? Successful? There’s nothing wrong with these things in themselves. But when “smart” or “capable” or “successful” or “wealthy” takes the place of who I am and who I am becoming in Christ, then what happens is that we are actually drifting from Christ, no matter how others see us or we see ourselves. What kind of person do you want to be? What kind of person do you want others to think you are? Your identity - and mine - is defined by Christ. We are one with Him. We are in Him. He is in us. We belong to Him. He belongs to us. He has atoned for our sins, He has redeemed us; He is even now in the process of refining us to make us into the people He wants us to be. And He promises to one day perfect us. That is who we are. That’s our identity.

Maybe this morning some of you would admit that there are some labels that define you, and those labels aren’t Christ. Maybe these are labels others have given you.Maybe others have labeled you as weak. Maybe some have labeled you as unintelligent, or shameful. Maybe these labels are labels you’ve given yourself. “I’m not attractive.” “I’m a victim.” “I’m not fun to be around.”

Now the world around you will tell you that the answer to this is to think positively. Get the negativity out of your life. Look in the mirror and tell yourself “I’m great, I’m smart, I’m successful.” If you want to do that, that’s up to you.

But you’re still putting the focus on yourself. You and I, church, are not the heroes of our story. Jesus is the hero of our story. And if you want to really find self-confidence or self-esteem, if you want to escape destructive labels, the solution is not to focus on how great you are. The solution is to focus on Jesus. In Christ, it doesn’t matter what if others call me shameful because Jesus tells me that in Him, I’m loved. In Christ, it doesn’t matter if others call me foolish or unintelligent because in Christ I’ve been given His wisdom. In Christ, it doesn’t matter if people see me as unsuccessful because Jesus tells me I can do all things through His power. In Christ, it doesn’t matter if people call me names because in Jesus I am identified by His righteousness, by His power, by His love and His friendship.

And like that Armenian widow, known by her husband’s name, understood, what’s more important than who you are in yourself is who you belong to. Do you belong to Jesus? If you don’t, you can today. Jesus waits to receive you with open arms. Just say, “Jesus, I’m yours; save me.” If you do belong to Jesus, then endeavor this week, today, this afternoon, right now, to put off the false labels you’ve given yourself, or those labels others have given you, and choose to see yourself the way you truly are in Christ.