Here’s a quote I saw on Instagram recently >
‘The enemy attacks your identity, because he knows everything flows from there’
Really important to set our identity straight!
To know who we are, where we come form, what we’re supported by, what were part of.
Bit of theme this year > what church is, what community is, what our spiritual gifts & personality types are… And tonight the IDENTITY question: this gets to the very core of our being.
We might assume that we find our own identity, we discover our own identity, we make our own identity. So how do we find it, how do we discover it, how do we make it?
We can look at what’s on our drivers licence or birth certificate or passport for a start. Maybe through the different roles we have, how we fit into the world around us. Our roles and responsibilities, what we’re good at, what we enjoy doing, what we get paid to do for a job…
Reflective Question > What are the main roles you occupy in your life?
For me I’m a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, godparent (personal)
Pastor, have had many other roles (professional/working life)
Other things I associate with myself: being creative, sporty, musical, I like travelling, coffee/wine/beer tasting, being with family and friends, being by the beach etc etc
Of course my faith too (funny how we can forget that!), Christian, Lutheran, believer in Jesus by God’s grace.
All different ways we find, discover and make our identities, in relation to the world around us.
But what about our identity in Christ? What is that all about, how do we find, discover and make that???
Actually, we don’t.
Our identity in Christ is not chosen by us. Our identity in Christ is given to us.
Two verses on this to think about tonight:
2 Corinthians 5:17 – ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’
Galatians 2:20 – ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’
What stands out to you there?
New creation. Old is gone, new has come.
No longer us who live but Christ in us, who loved us and gave himself for us.
And all these things, all this good news, is spoken over us in our baptism, where we are received into God’s own family as his own dearly loved child.
When I hear that, it goes deeper than everything else. Deeper than all our roles and responsibilities, how we fit into the world around us. Right to our deepest sense of self > this is spoken over us, it’s given to us by our good and gracious God.
He does give us all of our roles and connections and good purposes in life, but the source of all these things is the identity we are given in Christ. Not anything we’ve set up for ourselves, but what he has done for us. We always come back to this identity, this identity always goes with us, out of this identity we can share who God calls us to be for our benefit and the benefit of those around us.
Unlike our drivers licence or passport, this ID card doesn’t expire, and we might even say God carries this card in his pocket for us!
Probably the most difficult part about this is being able to lean into, to receive this identity in the first place! Once we know this about ourselves, that our identity in Christ is given to us and goes with us, that we are a new creation by his work alone, then everything else flows out of that.
There is another difficulty that comes along at times, even when we know we who we are in Christ and what he’s done for us, it’s what I mentioned at the start > ‘The enemy attacks your identity, because he knows everything flows form there.’
Having faith in who God says he is and who we are ATTRACTS the enemy, as in our own sinful selves, as in the devil. It’s like the devil knows who holds their identity in Christ and specifically sets out to target them!
Here’s the challenge of the Christian life >
Knowing our identity in Christ, but living in a world that says just about anything else!
How can we deal with that, how can we find protection and security and hope in being who God says we are?
The answer to that is in the question!
Who’s the source of protection, who promises to protect his sheep, who provides a house for them to dwell in with him forever?
Our heavenly Father is all this and does all this for us, we don’t have to figure it out on our own. And we have the vital support network of Christian community around us, to tap into, to be held up by at times, to do life together in.
So when the enemy comes at us, we can trust in who we are and WHOSE we are.
When life doesn’t go to plan, when things happen that we didn’t want to happen or didn’t see coming, we can trust in who we are and WHOSE we are.
When good things are happening and our hearts are full, we can be can thankful, thankful for the one who says we are his, he is with us.
Lord we thank you for the gift of our identity in Christ, the identity you have spoken over us and call us to live in. Protect us from our sinful desires and the work of the devil that would have us believe in anything but your goodness, your grace and your love for us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Tom Kitson 