No child is born without a name, names are given for Identification. Animals and other earthly elements all have various means of identification.
This identification determines what they are, their characteristics, features, and designs.
The same goes for Believers, the world doesn’t define us but the Word of God.
Understanding the Believer’s identity in Christ is one of the most crucial areas determining how well we live out the Christian faith.
Many believers are confused today about “who they are”, “what they have”, and “what they can do”, this all stems from the identity crisis that often results from wrong teachings.
While the Epistles predominantly deals with the principle of the Believer’s identity, we will begin this sermon and study from the book of Genesis and then move to the New Testament.
In the end, we will see only Jesus, who is the center of the Scriptures.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW YOUR UNIQUENESS
It is important to know our identity in Christ because:
- Without this knowledge, we cannot fully function in the authority of Christ’s office.
- It helps us understand our privileges and rights as believers.
- It enables us to stand strong in faith during trials, tests, and temptations.
- Knowing our identity helps us distinguish ourselves from the ways of the world.
WHAT IS THE BELIEVER’S IDENTITY IN CHRIST?
The Believer’s identity in Christ entails us knowing and walking in all Christ has accomplished for us, made us be, who is he to us, what we are in him, what we can do through him, his life, and ability in the new creation.
The Gospel as explained in the Epistles is this: God came as a Man, was crucified, was buried, and rose from the dead.
His crucifixion was our crucifixion, his burial was our burial and when he was raised from the dead, we rose with him.
Romans 6:3-4 “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
This is what we call Identification. Christ is now in me, he has taken residence in me, as he is, so am I.
What Christ has, I have, what he can do, I can do, the same Love God has for his Son is the same Love he has for me. Christ’s Life is our life.
The first temptation that came to Adam in the garden was that of “identification” for the devil deceived Eve into believing that if she ate the fruit, she would be like God.
The devil also used this same deception on Jesus when he asked him to turn stone into bread to prove he was God’s son but Jesus rebuked him, this temptation was also an attack on the identity of Jesus.
Why do you think Jesus was persecuted by the Sadducees and Pharisees? It was mainly because of what he said about himself and his relationship with the Father. Jesus wasn’t persecuted for miracles, signs, or wonders.
When you read the 4 Gospels (Matthew to John), he frequently used these words: “I am the Way”, “I am the truth”, “I am the Life”, “I am the bread of Life”, “I am the resurrection”
This goes to show us that Jesus knew who he was, he had no issue with his identity.
In Matthew 16 vs 30, Jesus asked the disciples who he was. Today, many still believe that Jesus is a prophet but he is not, he is the Lamb of God that has taken the sins of the World.
Identity crisis affects how we worship, pray, and act, Jesus told the disciples in Luke 9 vs 51 saying: “Don’t you know what manner of spirit you are of?”
Jesus saying “know ye not” speaks of identity, which affects their speaking. We are born of the Word, we are from above, and our conduct emanates from the Word and not from the philosophy of men.
THE NEW CREATION
2 Corinthians 5 vs 17 says:
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)
A New Testament ministry does not point people to philosophy or psychology; it points them to Christ and the reality of the believer in Him.
Many dangers have been wrought by setting aside scriptures, which are supposed to be the only valid reference for what we believe and preach and refer to psychology and philosophy instead.
The “48 laws of power” cannot explain doctrine, the believer shouldn’t be seen as Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic for the nature of God is in the believer which is his new temperament. Halleluiah!
The believer is supposed to program his mind to function in this. When the choleric man is saved, the scriptures tell him to put away anger. That’s walking in the Spirit.
In the scripture above, when a man or woman comes to Christ, he or she becomes a new person, meaning that the way you know him or her is no longer the same.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5 vs 16 says: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
If believers are instructed in the light of the philosophy and psychology of men, they will never walk in their realities as believers.
For example, have you ever seen Lecturers Teaching Medical Students with Accounting textbooks? Am sure you know the answer.
As believers, we have our own prescribed textbook, It’s the Bible, with great and undiluted emphasis on apostolic doctrine as recorded in Acts 2.
We should stay with our book and be instructed in the light of what it teaches. To do otherwise will only produce deformed and malfunctioning believers.
Our identity can only be found and described within the scriptures and not by psychological information and data.
For when we see Jesus in the Scriptures, then we come to know ourselves (who we truly are and what we can do).
ONENESS SCRIPTURE VERSES
Numerous scriptures talk about who we are in Christ and what we have in him, below are a few of them:
Colossians 3 vs 3: For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
1 Corinthians 1 vs 30: It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
Colossians 3 vs 4: When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Ephesians 1 vs 3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
2 Peter 1 vs 3: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Colossians 1 vs 27: To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1
Ephesians 1 vs 7: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace
Our identity here is this: We already have redemption, we have been redeemed, it is the believer’s present reality.
Ephesians 1 vs 20 – 21: Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Verse 21: Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
The Believer’s identity here is: We have authority over all the power/dominion of the devil and his kingdom because Christ is raised from the dead.
In our next sermon, we will look at how to walk in your new identity as a believer.
My passion lies in reaching out to young adults in communities and schools, witnessing the transformative power of faith in their lives.
This blog extends my ministry, sharing insights, encouraging believers, and exploring Christ's teachings in daily life.
Welcome, Brother James.
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