HEY CHRISTIAN -- Do You Know Who You Are?” - Part 1
July 11, 2023Read Ephesians 1:3-14
The late actor Kirk Douglas tells of picking up a hitch-hiking sailor in route to Palm Springs. The sailor got in the car, took a look at Kirk and said, "Hey, do you know who you are?” That’s the question I want to pose to those reading this -- Hey, believer, do you know who you are in Christ?
The fact of the matter is most people go through life wishing that they knew who they were. Numbers of people today spend small fortunes trying to discover who they are. They get color-coordinated on the outside and psychoanalyzed on the inside, and try to get allied with the right side! A popular song of days gone by was "I gotta be me." Who am I? You say "dummy," you're Wade Trimmer! No, that's just my name. You say you are a preacher. No, that's what I do. You say you are the husband Anne, the best wife in the world. No, that's my marital status. You say, “I get it, you are a Christian.” Yes, but what is a Christian? You say someone who has repented of their sins and received Christ as their Savior. Yes and no – yes, that's what I did, and no, because what I did is not who I am. Being a Christian is not something I did, but someone I became!
Understanding your identity in Christ is absolutely essential if you are to live as a victorious Christian. How do we find our true identity? We must begin by seeing ourselves as God sees us, and in his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul offers us help with that.
God Himself is the Only Foundation for A Secure Sense of Identity
Our identification doesn't come from investigation of ourselves but from the recognition of a Christ-based relationship with Father God who affirms and confirms us! This means that we must be God-centered and not self-centered, in our focus. Notice how God-centered Paul’s writings to the Ephesians are: His blessing us, not our blessing Him – (1:3);His choosing us, not our choosing Him – (1:4); His will, not ours (1:5) His grace, not ours (1:6-7); His good pleasure, not ours (1:9); His purpose, not ours (1:11); His power, not ours (1:12,14); His calling, not ours (1:18); His inheritance, not ours (1:18); His love, not ours (2:4); His workmanship, not ours (2:10)
Knowing who God is forms a solid basis for knowing who I am. God has revealed Himself so that I can experience His person, enjoy His presence, and express His life and love. Because I am intimately related to Him in Christ, whatever He is reflects something about me. Because He is, I exist. Because He is Savior, I am justified; because He is love, I am loved; because He is my indwelling Lord, I am competent to face life... because He is Sovereign over all, I am safe and secure. He is my Father -- I am His beloved child; He is my heavenly Bridegroom - I share the joys of being His bride. And since He is King of kings, that makes me a King’s kid. Knowing Him and knowing who I am go hand in hand.
Everything in these verses in Ephesians 1 is all God’s work -- his choosing, predestining, redeeming, justifying, sanctifying, and sealing you for final glory, is designed by God not mainly to make much of us, but to free us and fit us to enjoy making much of Christ forever. We’re created originally and re-created spiritually in order to glorify God by seeing, savoring and showing forth the glories and worth of our great God!
Rick Joyner said, “Many years ago the Lord spoke to me and said that a great deception had gone out over His people. This deception was the overemphasis on who we are in Christ, in place of who He is in us. A key word to understanding this deception is "overemphasis." We do need to know who we are called to be in Christ, but true faith is not built up by seeing who we are, but by seeing who He is. True vision is seeing Him, who He is, and where He now sits. We will never be changed into His glory by seeing who we are, but only by seeing Him.”
A. Our Identity is Always and Only Linked to Our Birth! --1 Pet 1:3, 23 -- I am by natural birth a Trimmer. I may hate the DNA of the Trimmers. I may even change my name and have radical surgery done in and attempt to erase the family likeness, but in every cell of my body, what I was born as, I am!
This is true in the spiritual realm as well. When one is born again, or regenerated, they are re-gened with the spiritual DNA of the very nature of Father/God. Peter writes in his second letter that we become partakers of the divine nature. (2 Pet 1:4) This means that being a Christian isn’t a matter of getting something, but a matter of becoming and being someone. It isn’t a matter of quitting bad things, and trying to become a better person, it’s a matter of receiving the life of God and being born again as a child of God!
Are you spiritually insecure? Do you, as a believer, live with a vague sense of God's disapproval of you? Is there something that constantly suggests to you that God hasn't really accepted you into His favor and family? Do you ever get the feeling that God really doesn't like you because of the many problems you are confronted with, or that He is on the verge of rejecting you because you get tripped up in sin quite often? Do you assume that you can do something to make God accept, approve, appreciate and be more affectionate toward you? If so you are suffering from spiritual insecurity.
How would you answer the question of the old hymn, "I am satisfied with Jesus, He means so much to me, but the question comes to me as I think of Calvary, is my Lord satisfied with me?” If you clearly understand that salvation is all of grace, your answer should be a resounding "YES", because of Calvary, my Lord is satisfied with me!
Child of God, repent of unbelief and confess by faith that everything God says you are, you are; everything He says you have in Christ, you have; everything He says you can do by Christ’s’ strength, you can do! Be who you are!
In part two of this teaching we will note how we are made over and marked out as FATHER’S SPECIALS!
Write a Comment
Comments for this post have been disabled.