Remember Who We Are #30

Some of Paul's strongest statements about who we are, as compared to who we were, are found in his letter to the Romans, like in chapter 6:
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

We are set free, yet, at the same time, we are slaves.  We have a new master.  Our master used to be sin - d downhill disobedience to God; now our master is righteousness - a rising desire and ability to obey Him. The picture here is of willing submission to our master.  Not only were we slaves to our sin, we really kind of liked it - that's why we kept giving in to it over and over again.  But now that we have been bought back and brought back by God, we are learning the joy of trusting and obeying Him, and want to more.  Since we are free, we now have the ability to chose to lovingly and willingly submit to Him. Let's do it.

Remember Who We Are #29

 

As Paul is wrapping up his deep, theological first half of his letter to the Galatians, he says:

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

There is more than one "you are" here, but the core reminder is that we are one in Christ Jesus.  We find that same emphasis in his letters to the Romans, Ephesians, and Corinthians. God's plan and promise in sending Christ was to bring us together as one - one body, one building, one people united in faith for His purposes.  All the divisions that made some feel like outsiders have been done away with; the only thing that will keep you out is failing to trust in Christ.  As I said, being one brings with it other benefits: we are God's children and co-heirs with Christ. There is no downside here. No one is worse off having received Christ  and becoming one; we all benefit from faith. We just need to not take it for granted. 

Remember Who We Are #28

We were in I Peter 2 earlier this month looking at a whole list of "who we are" in verse 9. Today we back up to look at the core of that list:

 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

We are living stones in this temple of God, serving as a holy priesthood.  This picture is so intriguing - of a building that is living, and growing, and acting. The church is not a physical building, but the buildings we use can be a picture of the church, with holy activity and spiritual growth and praise to the name of Christ taking place there.  One last note here is this final phrase: whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Christ bore the shame of our sin on the cross, so we do not have to. It is our privilege is to be called to be His priests to bring others into God's presence.  

Remember Who We Are #27

Yesterday we considered those classic words in Ephesians 2:8,9, telling us that we are Saved by God's grace alone. We continued on into verse 10, but really did not comment on it:

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Paul refers to us as God's workmanship, a beautiful machine.  You may not get too excited about cars or trains or other mechanical devices, many of which had not yet been invented in Paul's day, but the picture here is of something that is well-crafted, practical, and beautiful to behold and in one creation.  It is magnificent.  That is what God intends for us together to be - each piece, each brushstroke, each petal, intentionally made to work together with all the other parts, so that when you step back and look, you say "wow."  This perfectly made machine is intended for good works - doing something productive for God's plan - drawing people and praise to Himself.  None of us are unimportant in this masterpiece, but not one of us is to stick out or to be seen to be the sole focus of what is going on.  We are the one-of-a-kind producer of good God has working.  Let's do our part and stay together. 

Remember Who We Are #26

Ephesians 2:8,9 is one of those passages we know so well, but often do not consider in its fuller context. We begin in verse: 

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are Saved.  Like the passage itself, this word has been overused and abused, robbing us of its wonderful depth. God made us alive, brought us back from spiritual death, raised us up, and seated us at His table in heaven. Our being "saved" includes all of that, which God, and only God, could do. We love to emphasize the by grace you have been saved in verse 8, but Paul actually had already said that in verse 5; the repetition of it only emphasizes it all the more. We are saved, but it is only by God's amazing grace.

Remember Who We Are #25

As Peter wrote to persecuted Christians- especially those of Jewish background- he sought to encourage them by helping them remember who they were in Christ:

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Peter refers to them as sojourners and exiles.  The Jewish people had a long history of both. Abraham and the other Patriarchs roamed all over the ancient Middle East with their flocks and herds, aiming to settle down there, but never staying too long.  As a nation, Israel spent a long time in Egypt and again in Exile. They knew what it was like.  But this journey and wandering were far deeper: their citizenship was in heaven, and they were living in a pagan culture.  So how were they, and how are we, to live in such a society? Focused on holiness, keeping our conduct pure and honorable, so that when false accusations are made against us, there is no evidence to support them.  People need to be able to look on us almost as aliens - as different and recognizable and a breath of fresh air in a polluted world. Just be like Jesus. 

Remember Who We Are #24

Romans 3:23 is one of those short, well-known verses that we quote often, but rarely in its context:
 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

We rightly use Romans 3:23 to point out that all of us are sinners before a righteous and holy God; none of us can claim an exemption. But just like sin is "one-size-fits-all," the whole point of this passage is to show that there is only one way to be right before God - to be justified and made righteous, and that is by God's grace through faith in Christ.  For those of us who have put our faith in Him, we are justified - not only seen as righteous in Christ - but made righteous.  That changes everything when we stand before Him. It changes how we look at ourselves, at other believers, and even at God Himself.  He looks better than ever. 

Remember Who We Are #23

One of the phrases often used to describe followers of Christ is born again. Today we look at a use of that term not by John or Paul, but in I Peter 1:

 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 

As Peter challenged his readers to endure persecution and pursue purity despite their pressure put upon them, he reminded them that they were born again.  Being born again happens when we hear the word of truth from God and respond in trust and obedience - that when God says we are sinners who need to put our faith in Christ as Savior, we repent and believe in Him and what He did for us. The same word continues to change our lives as it is implanted into our hearts and minds. One of the biggest pieces of evidence of being born again, whether it be in the writings of Peter, Paul or John, is to sincerely love our fellow believers, doing for them what is best no matter what it costs us.  It is like a fruitful tree growing out from us for all to see.   Have you been born again? Let others see it today.

Remember Who We Are #22

When you're surround by darkness, it is easy for your eyes, and your heart, to become too adjusted to it. But as followers of Christ, we are called to a higher standard, as Paul points out in I Thessalonians 5:

4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

We are children of Light.  This, of course, coincides with what Jesus said in Matthew 5 - that we are the light of the world.  Who we are makes a big difference, no matter what is going on around us. We are able to see in and through the darkness.  The bigger context of these verses is looking forward to the second coming of Christ, the Light at the end of the tunnel, but that does not mean that is the only place we look. We are very aware of our surroundings - awake and sober.  We walk by faith though surrounded by skeptics; we demonstrate love in a hateful world; we live with hopeful hearts of what God can and will do. 

Remember Who We Are #21

As Jesus was wrapping up his Beatitudes, working His way into the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, He said in Matthew 5: 
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."

We are the salt of the earth.  In our day and age, salt is a part of daily life we often take for granted. We use it for flavoring, to melt snow, and maybe to make homemade ice cream, but not to the extent it was used in that day.  It was used often for its preservation of meat and other foods, and was rare enough that it was used to pay soldiers - as a type of money.  The problem with salt was that once it was used for its main purpose, it was only good as weed killer on the roads.  It really is a fitting example of who we are and should be as the people of God.  We should be viewed as valuable for how important we are for daily life - not because of what we do, but because of what Christ does through us.  We should make life taste better for those around us.  We also should realize that sometimes people will look at us as Christians and decide we have outlived our usefulness to society and trample us underfoot.  That will happen when the world strays from God, but we need to make sure it is not because we have lost our saltiness and positive impact on those around us.  

Remember Who We Are #20

 

In Galatians 3, Paul is confronting the tendency we have to go back and try to live life to please God on our own, when he concludes the chapter in verse:

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

In the bigger context of our series of studies, Paul reminds us that We Are Redeemed.  When we put our trust in Christ as savior, we have been bought back from sin and death through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  As a result, something else is true: We have the Holy Who helps us live this new life in Him. Neither our salvation nor our life afterwards are by any effort, energy or accomplishment on our part. It is all Christ.  We also have as a result the "blessing of Abraham", which is faith.  Just like Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians,  faith is also part of God's gracious gift.  All the struggle was done on the cross. We need to trust Him for our salvation and for the strength we need to continue on this journey of faith. 

Remember Who We Are #19

The opening verses of Paul's letters are much more than polite, traditional greetings.  In them we discover key descriptions of the character of the recipients, like in I Thessalonians:
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 

In the context of our study on Remembering Who We Are, Paul says: "This is what I remember about you: your faith, your love, and your hope." These things lead him to conclude that these people are God's chosen ones. These characteristics were evidence of what he had seen in their initial response: a people who responded to God's Word, were transformed by God's power, and who fully embraced the Gospel. This was not simply Paul's personal opinion, as we see by his constant use of the pronoun "We." Do we show these marks in our ongoing relationship with God in Christ? Can people look at us and say: "we know who you are: people whom God has chosen for His purpose and His glory."?

Remember Who We Are #18

Colossians 1: 

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Many of you are aware of my love for alliteration.  The English translation of this verse gives us a great example: We are delivered from the domain of darkness. God has, in Christ, set us free from the dungeon of sin, where we were hopeless captives.  In like manner, we are redeemed - bought back from slavery to sin. We are forgiven. We were in sin's debtor prison, unable to pay to price to get out. The Bible is a book of God setting people free.  So, how should we respond to that.  There are plenty of warnings how NOT to respond: the people of Israel wanted to run back to their slavery in Egypt; the people in Judges kept falling back into the same old patterns of faithlessness after God had delivered them from their pagan neighbors; the demons driven out of the house wanted to come back in after the house was cleansed, settling in stronger.  Paul's point is this: our forgiveness, our salvation, our redemption is so great, we never want to go back there - not for a second.  May we spend time today rejoicing in and reinforcing this great salvation. 

Remember Who We Are #16

A couple of weeks ago we were in II Corinthians 5, looking at the well-known verses, 17 and 21. But let's not forget the verses between them: 

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 

We are ambassadors.  How many people get to be ambassadors? Not many. Often, we picture someone in a dark sport coat with an emblem or sash or some other recognizable dress to indicate their position. As ambassadors for Christ, we should also stick out in a crowd as distinct and special.  We are responsible to represent our Leader, Christ, well.  Our job demands a lot of tact and respect towards those to whom we have been sent, seeking to develop and maintain a good relationship between them and our Leader.  We need to remember how patient and gracious, yet honest, he was with us. We must be able to explain to them well the covenant relationship He seeks and help them see every reason to accept His offer of peace and security. Being His ambassadors is a great privilege and responsibility. Let us go out today to whomever He sends us and represent Him will.

Remember Who We Are #16

We've been talking about who we are, in Christ, together.  But we also need a solid foundation of who we are individually, as we see in Psalm 139: 

13 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.

Everyone wants to be known and accepted for who they are.  No one knows us better than our Creator.  When we know Him, we begin to see how wonderfully and carefully He has made us, inside and out.  But  we also need to allow Him to reveal to us the "not-so-pretty" parts of us that have been marred by sin, that He wants to change, which leads to psalmist to conclude with another well-known quote:

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!

    Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting!

Today may we say: Thank you Lord, for making me and knowing me. Now, please change me to the way you want me to be. 

Remember Who We Are #15

In the introduction to his first letter, Peter makes some astounding statements:

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

That is a pretty bold statement: that we may become partakers of the divine nature. God has given us a share of holiness.  That does not make us God or little gods or anything like that. But it does say something about how we can now live life: we can say "no" to sin and "yes" to godliness.  That's because in Christ we have been given the power, the knowledge, the promises, and - as Paul calls it in I Corinthians 10:13 - the way of escape, when temptation comes knocking. In other words, we are no longer "helpless victims" against temptation and sin. We are accountable to use the resources God has given us.

Remember Who We Are #14

In Matthew 5, Jesus was talking about what it would be like to follow Him: who they would be and what they would do. He then said:

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We are the light of the world. Just as God had put Israel up as an example to the nations to bless them, He has now, in Christ, put His people, the church in and before the world as a shining light. We are to shine in the darkness to show the way to Him.  These good works are the same as in Ephesians 2 - they are not good deeds we do to save ourselves, they are the good works that come about when we trust in Christ and allow Him to do His work in and through us.  We are not to hide or light or stifle our goodness; we are to let Him bring it out.  How are we doing at that? Are you hiding your light or holding back your good works?

Remember Who We Are #13

The church at Corinth had a lot of behavioral issues.  They were not acting right towards one other, those outside the church, or toward Christ Himself.  But early on, Paul reminded them that the root of their ills was deeper, it was in the way they thought, which led to these actions. In the second chapter of his first letter he said:
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

In this comparison/contrast, Paul says as followers of Christ, we have available to us something that those outside of the faith do not have. We have the mind of Christ. We have the ability to see things from God's perspective. What before made no sense, now makes perfect sense. Questions like: "Why would these people deprive themselves of whatever they desire? Why do they devote themselves to gatherings often to worship their God? Why do they give of what they have so freely?" When we have the mind of Christ, and our minds are renewed to process life with God's wisdom in mind, we make wise choices we never would have made before. What does God need to change in my mind today? 

Remember Who We Are #12

It's easy in this life to find ourselves getting down and discouraged. If that's where you find yourself today, consider Paul's words in Romans 8: 
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

Now before we start feeling our individualist All-American, pick-myself-up-by-the-bootstraps pep talk coming on, we first notice this is something WE have, not I have.  And, context is everything.  This very powerful promise is part of the paragraph that begins:  

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  

Who was against them? It was not simply a bad hair day or a "my hip is acting up day." They were facing things like:

tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. 

They were facing severe treatment leading to fear, discouragement, and considering bailing ship. Paul says: There's no need for that. Remember who we are. Remember we are in this together. Remember Who loves us and empowers us. Stand firm together in Him. 

Remember Who We Are #11

 In I Corinthians 12, Paul begins his concluding paragraph with this statement:

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 

That picture summarizes what the church is and how we fit into it.  It all begins with our attitude towards ourselves and one another.  Earlier he had said:

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

None of us can or should say that we are not needed or less needed than anyone else. There is no place for putting ourselves down. Then, in the next paragraph he begins:

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the other hand, none of us can say to each other: "We don't need you." That smacks of pride, which leads to the destruction of the body.  Finally, that leads to these actions:

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

When we understand who we are, individually and together, the body works together as it should, and no part is neglected.  

Remember Who We Are #10

Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

Paul had just spent w long paragraph listing all sorts of behaviors which were a part of the "old self", then reminding them to think and act like the "new self." Here he chooses 1 name to call us: chosen.  We, as the body of Christ, are chosen by God to demonstrate His love and holiness toward one another for all the world to see. Knowing we are chosen should affect our attitudes and actions.  God back and reread the list, then think back and ask: "Did I do this yesterday ?" and "How am I going to do this today?"

Remember Who We Are #9

 

Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

One of the greatest blessings we have in Christ is to now be Children of God. As we read above, that has many benefits: we are safe in God's family; we don't need to live in fear.  We are heirs; we don't have to worry about what we need.  We are sons and daughters with rights and privileges, especially the ability to talk with our Father in Heaven. These benefits also carry with them responsibilities and accountability. In the context of the verses preceding this, such a privilege carries with it the calling to turn away from the old life of the flesh, and our last verse startles us, it says we need to be willing to suffer as His children. In other words, as glorious as it is to be in God's family, in this life it will not always be easy, only worth it. 

Remember Who We Are #8

In I Corinthians 6, Paul is making a strong case against immorality in the lives of believers, when he makes one last plea in verse: 

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

We, as the body of Christ, the Church, and members individually, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives here within us.  It's not like He is a visitor Who shows up once in awhile and we rush to clean up the place right before He gets here; He is here twenty-four, seven.  And God has paid a hefty price for Him to live here.  What we do with our bodies matters, because as Paul says earlier in the chapter, we might actually be committing idolatry with some of the things we do.  It's like God says: "What goes on here?" That is a long, hard investigation we all need to conduct, asking the Holy Spirit to help us check it out. Where are you going to start today? May we glorify God in our body, and kick out all of the idols that are squatters.

Remember Who We Are #7

In John 15 Jesus said:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

Besides being one of the great "I Am" statements, this is also one of the ways Jesus clearly pictures for us who we are: We are branches of Him, the vine. We find life, purpose and meaning through our connection with Him.  It means we have security and responsibility. We need to be willing to allow God to do some pruning for our own good and for His glory.  Being called a branch may not seem very exciting, but vines are strong and productive, as long as they stay connected to the main branch. And being a connected branch has a much brighter future than the alternative. 

Remember Who We Are #6

In John 15, as Jesus spoke to His disciples on the night before the cross, he said:

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Jesus said a lot of things that night that shook his disciples up, but verse 15 must have taken them back: I call you friends. As a friend, He was willing to do anything for them, including give up His life for them, and for us. As a friend, He was also asking them to do something: obey God, check in with God, become the people He was investing in them to be. Friendship with Christ, and therefore with the Father, is not something that should puff up our heads or give us a free pass on sin; It should move us to serve Him, as He has served us. 

Remember Who We Are #5

 Today we return to II Corinthians 5, where we saw on our first day in this journey the new life we have in Christ.  The chapter ends with these words:

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This, of course, is in reference to the sinless Christ being sent by God the Father to take on our sins, so we could stand before God and have Him see us as if we had never sinned.  As Paul said in Romans 3,the fact is that "all have sinned" and None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (words Paul quoted from the Psalms)  Simply put, now, by faith in Christ, we are "Righteousness in the flesh." I don't know about you, but I don't always feel that way, but that is Who we, as the people of God together, are in Christ.  On the one hand that means we can have a lot of comfort that God does really care about us, and we will one day be fully in His presence.  On that other hand, it is a wake-up call as to who we ought to be and how we ought to live - as those who are right with God and do right by God and to one another. 

Remember Who We Are #4

 

John 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

In Christ, we are God's enlightened children.  Having received Christ by faith, the light has come on: we recognize and realize Who He is, why He came, what He has done, and what it has to do with us.  Believing in Him has revealed a whole new world we did not know even existed.  It has opened up rooms in God's house we did not know were there.  It has shown us how we can please our Father and live out lives of purpose together.  Seeing Who He is and who we are makes all the difference.

Remember Who We Are #3

We are talking about Who We Are as the People of God in Christ. One of my favorite descriptions is in I Peter 2:

 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

In the Old Testament the Jewish People were the chosen race, called out to be an example and a blessing. But now, in Christ, the "race" is not a bloodline, it is all those united by the blood of Christ.  Also in the Old Testament, it was only priests and Levites who had the privilege of serving during worship, while the bloodline of the King was separate, But now, in Christ, we are in a sense all priests, and our relationship with Christ makes us children of the King as well. The nation of Israel often failed to be the holy people God intended, but the Holy Spirit indwells all true believers.  In Christ, we now belong to God; we are on the inside not the outside, and we are loved.  Who we are should affect what we do. We should be full of praise and ready to proclaim the name of the One who has delivered us and brought us into His Kingdom of light.  We should not be ashamed or afraid, but emboldened (in a positive way), but who we are in Christ. 

Remember Who We Are #2

We began yesterday reminding ourselves of who we are as God's people. A great resource for that topic is Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Today we consider chapter two:
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Not only are we a new creation, we are a special piece of craftmanship; we are a skilled workman's masterpiece.  Before any of us get a personal puffed head, thinking "look at me, look at me!", keep in mind here that Paul says "we", jointly, together, as God's people, the Church. Notice also that we are made to be functional - not just a creation to put on a mantle or hang on the wall, but to be one the move. God has work for us to do, together, like clockwork, a well-oiled machine humming along nicely. A modern picture might be a fine, handmade automobile designed to cruise on down the road with a destination in mind, looking around very aware of the beauty and design of what God has made, willing to pick up weary travelers - the more the merrier.  Can we begin to imagine what it is God has designed us to be?

Remember Who We Are # 1

One of the biggest struggles of God's people has always been our tendency to not Remember.  We not only forgot - conveniently or otherwise - to do what has told us to do; we even forget who we are in Christ, which leads to us doing - or not doing - what we ought to be doing. Perhaps one of the best-known and loved verses is in II Corinthians:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The key phrase here, as in a few of Paul's letters, is "in Christ." We have a relationship with God, and therefore our lives are to be different.  The very context of this verse reminds us that by virtue of our relationship with Christ Who died for us, we have died to our old sinful life. Our lives should then be like a beacon flashing in the darkness with the message: "Come to Christ; Be Reconciled to God!" Remember who you are - a new creation; leave behind the old and be what God has called us to be in Christ.