Identity in Christ | Ephesians 1:1-14
Brian Hedges | June 19, 2022
Let’s turn in our Bibles this morning to Ephesians 1. If you’re using one of the Bibles in the chairs in front of you it’s page 976.
While you’re turning there, let me tell you a little story about the most unnerving experience I ever had in a foreign country. Let me just ask you, if you’re going to a foreign country, what’s the one thing you don’t want to lose? It’s your passport, right? So, I was on my way back from a mission trip in South Africa, and we had a layover in Lagos, Nigeria. I was looking forward to a relaxing few hours in Lagos. I thought maybe we’d stop and get a steak or something like that, to celebrate the wonderful trip that we had had. It had been tiring, we’d been working at a Bible college—absolutely exhausting, but a wonderful trip, and we’re on our way back.
We got to Lagos, and I was completely surprised at what happened. Rather than having the freedom to go find a restaurant, they put all of the passengers in the plane in a holding room where it was standing room only. It was about 90 degrees with no air conditioning, and we were left there for two hours.
Then, when it was finally time to make our connecting flight, they came to us and took away everybody’s passports. If you want to see a hundred Americans angry, take away their passports in an airport in Africa! So they took away our passports, and then this man wearing army fatigues, with a rifle slung over his shoulder, led us through the airport. I’ve learned since—in fact, someone after the first service who grew up in Africa told me, “They were actually doing that to protect you. That’s why they did that.” But I didn’t know that at the time. I thought, There’s this guy with a rifle; this lady has all of our passports; where are we going?
Anyway, they led us through the airport, and then finally we made the connecting flight and they gave our passports back. But it was kind of unnerving to have the passport taken out of your hand and see this person who’s carrying a hundred passports in her hands, and not knowing what’s going to take place. Anyway, it was not a particularly fun experience.
The bonus, the thing that actually made it great, was on the way back the guy I was riding with talked to the airline, told them that we had been on a mission trip, and actually was able to get us upgraded into first class. So I had my steak. It’s probably the one and only time that I’ll ever ride first class on an international flight, but I had my steak. They actually serve filet mignon in first class, did you know that? Those chicken things that you’re not sure if it’s chicken or not—it’s actually steak in first class. So anyway, I had my steak on the way back, and it was all great.
I tell you that story because I think that just as when you’re in a foreign country you want to hold onto your passport, so for us, as exiles in a foreign land, believers who are walking through this world, it’s important for us to maintain a sense of our identity. We have to hold onto what we might call our theological passport. I think one of the reasons that the New Testament letters are written is to give us that sense of identity, to teach us who we are in Christ.
Now, just as it would have been true that if I’d never gotten my passport back in Nigeria I still would have been an American citizen, even if I didn’t have my passport, it’s also true that even if you don’t know a lot of Christian doctrine, if you trust in Jesus Christ you are a Christian. But it helps to know the doctrine, it helps to know who you are, just like it’s good to have your passport in hand.
So this morning we’re going to look at a passage that is something like the Christian’s passport. It defines our identity in Jesus Christ. We’re looking at Ephesians 1:1-14, and we’re continuing in this series on identity.
So far we’ve looked at our identity in terms of creation, that we are created in the image of God, we are the image-bearers of God, and we are created as these physical, embodied souls, people who bear God’s image and are accountable to him. That’s foundational to identity.
We’ve talked about how the fall and sin and especially idolatry affects our identity, because our sense of identity is shaped by whatever it is we worship and pursue in life.
Last week we turned a corner and we talked about conversion, turning to Christ in faith and repentance, and how turning to Christ changes our identity. We saw that in the story of Saul and Tarsus, how he was changed on the Damascus road and became the apostle Paul, as Jesus Christ transformed him through his grace.
Today we’re asking the question, What does it actually mean to be a Christian? What does it actually mean to have a Christian identity? When we’re talking about our identity in Christ, what is that? The answer we’re going to see in Ephesians 1 fundamentally is that it means to be in Christ. That’s an important phrase in the New Testament.
Did you know that the word “Christian” is only found a couple of times in the Bible, but the phrase “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus” or “in him,” the equivalents of that phrase—165 times in Paul’s letters, and we’re going to find it ten or eleven times in the passage that we’re reading this morning.
Jerry Bridges, in a wonderful little book on identity, says, “To be in Christ is the most basic identity of a Christian, so much so that all other answers to the question, ‘Who am I?’ are based on or drawn from that identity.” To be in Christ is to be united to him, to be one with him, to be identified with him.
That’s what we’re seeing this morning, and as I read Ephesians 1, the first half of this chapter, if you follow along on the screen you’ll see underlined every time this phrase “in Christ” or its equivalents show up, and it really defines everything else we see in the passage. I’m going to read the passage, and then what I want us to do is look at four aspects of this identity in Christ. We might call them four features or four aspects or privileges of being in Christ, that we see in this passage. But let’s begin by reading Ephesians 1:1.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
This is God’s word.
I want you to see four aspects of identity in Christ that are found in verses 3-14 of this passage. It’s one long sentence in Greek where Paul is extolling God for the blessings of salvation. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Then he lists those blessings, and I want you to see four things about our identity that are found in those blessings.
1. You Are Chosen in Christ
You see it in verse 4: “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
This is what theologians call the doctrine of election. We are chosen in Christ. It’s what we might think of as grace before time, grace before the beginning of the world. Isn’t that what Paul says? “Even as he chose us in him [chosen in Christ] before the foundation of the world.”
This is grace from God where God set his heart upon you before the world even began. It’s not only before you were born, it’s before the world ever began. In eternity past, we might say, God set his heart and his mind upon you; he chose you in Christ.
Now, the Bible teaches this all over the place. Let me give you just one other passage, 2 Timothy 1:9, which says that God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” Isn’t that amazing? The doctrine of election: grace before time. He chose you. You are chosen in Christ.
Now, there’s mystery surrounding this doctrine. There’s theological controversy surrounding this doctrine, especially when we think about how God’s choice of us interacts with our choice for him. I’m not going to answer that question this morning; if you want to know more about that, go back and listen to past sermons. A couple years ago I preached through Romans 9. That’s where the real answer’s found; it’s in Romans 9. You can find those sermons online.
What I want you to see this morning is simply this, that part of your identity in Christ is just this, that you’re chosen. You are chosen. This choice, made before the world began, this choice, this grace given to you in Christ, has a very practical, life-transforming end in view.
This is the emphasis of the passage. You see it in verse 4. “He chose in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Grace leads to holiness. Being chosen means being chosen to be a saint.
The way Paul begins this whole letter is he addresses those who are “saints” and who are “faithful in Christ Jesus.” What is a saint? A saint is someone who is set apart for God. You are chosen to be a saint.
We sometimes think of saints only as those super-Christians. We may think of the Roman Catholic Church canonizing Christians, so we think of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, whatever. But I can just easily say, and it would be right to say, St. Andy, St. Tim, because if you’re a Christian, if you’re in Christ—St. Stacey—if you are in Christ, you are a saint, you’re set apart; you are chosen, and you’re chosen to be holy. So grace leads to holiness.
Now, one of the things this means is simply this, that whatever you understand the doctrine of election to teach, you can’t say that, “Okay, if God chose me and if salvation is based on grace, not works, and if God is sovereign, then it doesn’t matter if I live a holy life or not.” That goes exactly against what Paul says. He says you are chosen to be holy. In fact, every experience of grace that is a genuine experience of God’s grace is transforming, it’s life-changing, and it leads to our holiness.
We talked about that last week with the apostle Paul and with other illustrations. Let me give you another illustration, this time from literature. It’s from that great novel by Victor Hugo, Les Misérables. My guess is most of you probably haven’t read the novel, but maybe you’ve seen the movie or seen the play. It’s the story, of course, of Jean Valjean, who is this ex-convict. He spent 19 years in a chain gang, in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s children.
After 19 years as a prisoner, this has shaped him. It’s shaped the way he thinks of himself, he is embittered, he is hardened. As soon as he escapes—the day he is set free, is liberated—the very first thing he does is he steals silver from this kind bishop who has shown kindness to him.
The bishop, rather than turning him in, when the police capture Jean Valjean and bring him to the bishop, the bishop says, “Oh, it was a gift. I gave it to him.” He doesn’t press charges, even though Jean Valjean has sinned against him, even though he’s stolen all this stuff.
That exhibition of kindness, that show of grace, of mercy from the bishop to Jean Valjean, changes him. This is how Victor Hugo describes it in the novel. He says,
“Jean Valjean’s heart swelled, and he burst into tears. It was the first time he had wept in 19 years. He wept for a long time; he shed hot tears. He wept bitterly, more terrified than a child. His past life, his first offense, his exterior degradation, his interior hardening, his release made sweet by so many schemes of vengeance—all this returned and appeared to him clearly, but in a light he had never seen before he could see his life, and it seemed horrible; his soul, and it seemed frightful. There was, however, a gentler light shining on that life and soul. One thing was certain: that he was no longer the same man.”
It changed him. It changed his life.
If anything, this is even more poignant in the play. I’m curious—how many of you have seen the play, the musical of Les Misérables? Maybe a third of you. It’s worth seeing; it’s really good. It was actually made into a movie a few years ago.
There’s a place in the play where all this has taken place, and Jean Valjean is singing. There’s a song, and the song is called “Who Am I?” I want to read to you the words that he says in the play, and you can catch it in poetry now. This is really powerful. He says,
Yet why did I allow that man [the bishop]
To touch my soul and show me love?
He treated me like any other;
He gave me his trust,
Called me brother.
My life he claims for God above;
Can such things be?
For I had come to hate the world,
The world that always hated me.
I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in,
And I stare into the void
Of the whirlpool of my sin.
I’ll escape now from that world,
From the world of Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean is nothing more;
Another story must begin.
His life is changed! It’s completely changed, and he becomes this generous, large-hearted man who makes sacrifices for the sake of others.
Listen, this is what grace does. Grace changes you; grace makes you holy. It transforms you. When you have been gripped by the fact that God chose you, that he loved you before the world began, when that grasps your heart, that’s what changes you. That’s what shapes your identity.
That’s first; you’re chosen in Christ.
2. You Are Adopted in Christ
That would be enough, but there’s more, so here’s number two: you’re also adopted in Christ. Not only are you chosen to be a saint, you are adopted to be a son. Look in verses 5-6. It says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.” Adoption.
J.I. Packer in his classic book [Knowing God] said that “adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers us.” It’s even higher than justification. Justification is a legal thing. That’s where your sins are forgiven, you are pardoned, and God receives you as righteous in his sight. That means that before the divine Judge you’re absolved of all guilt.
But adoption is even higher than that, because adoption means you’re welcomed into the family. It means that you are welcomed as a child of God.
We have to understand just how significant this is by remembering that Paul is writing about adoption here in the culture of the ancient Romans world. In the Roman world, adoption was a legal transaction where an adult would be brought into the family as a son and would be given the status of the father and all of the legal rights and privileges that belonged to the family, and give him an inheritance.
One of my favorite movies of all time is William Wyler’s 1959 film Ben-Hur, another wonderful film that’s worth seeing. It’s the story of this Jewish prince, Judah Ben-Hur, who is betrayed by his childhood friend, he’s sent to the galley ships to be a rower in the warships of Rome. So he’s out at sea and he’s in a battle, and the ship sinks and he escapes, but after he escapes, he actually rescues this Roman general, a proconsul named Quintus Arius. Quintus Arius thinks that the battle is lost and he’s about to take his own life, and Judah Ben-Hur will not let him do that. He saves his life.
Afterwards, they discover that though the ship was lost, the battle was won. So Quintus Arius is now actually a hero, he’s a victor, and he goes back to Rome, and he takes Judah Ben-Hur with him. After this wonderful celebration of Quintus Arius’s victory, he adopts Judah Ben-Hur into his family. He adopts him as his son.
There’s this wonderful scene in the movie where he adopts him, and he gives him a new name. He calls him by his own name. He calls him Quintus Arius, and he takes a ring off his finger and he puts this ring on the finger of Judah Ben-Hur, and it is the sign, the symbol of his new status as a son.
Now this man, who once was a condemned slave, serving as an under-rower in the warships of Rome, now he is a Roman citizen who has the status, the privilege, and the inheritance of one of the greatest generals, Quintus Arius. It changes, of course, the shape of his life.
It’s a wonderful illustration of the significance of adoption and what happens for us. Here we were; we were sinners, we were God’s enemies, we weren’t his friends. We were children of wrath, Ephesians 2 says, “like the rest of mankind.” Children of wrath and children of disobedience. But when we are adopted, we are brought into the family and we are given a new name, we’re given a new status, we are given an inheritance. We become heirs of God.
Paul talks about this in Romans 8:14-17. He says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 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!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”
You see the significance of this amazing feature of our identity in Christ? You are brought into the family of God, and here in Ephesians 1 Paul goes on to talk about obtaining an inheritance in him. We get this inheritance because we are the sons of God.
Now, I should just make a note here about this language of sons. Why does Paul say you’re sons of God and not sons and daughters? Is he leaving the women out? Not at all, because when you read the rest of Paul’s letters you’ll see where he says, “There is neither male nor female in Christ,” we’re all one in Christ Jesus. What Paul is doing here is he’s including everyone, including female believers, he’s including them under this name of sons, because in the ancient world it was only the sons who had the legal rights. He’s saying, “You all receive these legal rights as sons.”
We might say that just as all male members of the body of Christ are actually part of the Bride, we’re the Bride of Christ; so in the same way all female believers in Christ are sons of God; they receive the full rights and status of sonship.
Once again, this has tremendous implications for our identity, as we think about our belonging, the group to which we belong. Who do we belong to? What group do we belong to? We belong to the family of God. He is our father, we are his sons, we are his children; and this shapes our understanding of who we are.
3. You Are Forgiven in Christ
You are chosen in Christ, you are adopted in Christ, and then here’s the third thing; you are also forgiven in Christ. You see this in verse 7. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” That short little verse is just pregnant with so much meaning. It’s so crucial that we understand this.
What does it mean to be in Christ? It means that we are redeemed! “In him we have redemption.” What is redemption? That word “redemption” is a word that means to be ransomed from slavery through the payment of a ransom price. It’s someone who’s been redeemed out of slavery through the payment of a price.
We see what the price is. “In him we have redemption through his blood.” This is the price of our forgiveness; it’s the price of our redemption; that Jesus Christ, on the cross, shed his blood for us. He paid for our sins, and he purchased our pardon and our forgiveness.
What does this come from? It comes from God’s grace. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” Forgiveness of sins.
Think about how much our identity is shaped by our past. Think about how your identity is shaped by either your performance, your sense of how well you’re doing, or by your failures, that you’re not doing well. Think about guilt and how guilt impacts identity. What’s the solution to that? The solution is the gospel.
Maybe I can apply this to one specific demographic within the church, and that’s moms. You know there’s a thing called “mom guilt,” right? That’s a thing. I Googled it, and this is what I came up with. This isn’t just a Christian thing, okay? There’s a lot of mom guilt out there.
Parenting.com: “31 Reasons You Shouldn’t Feel Mom Guilt.” Babycenter.com: “Top Seven Mommy Guilt Trips and How to Handle Them.” Web MD: “Five New Guilt Trips to Skip.” Psych Central: “The Pros and Cons of Mom Guilt.” Even Forbes magazine: “Letter to Working Moms: Stop Feeling So Guilty.”
This is a thing! It’s a thing in our culture, and it’s a thing that probably many of you women in the church who are moms wrestle with, this sense of guilt. “Am I doing enough? Am I a good enough mom?”
There’s no wonder there’s so much feeling of guilt, because motherhood has become so controversial. Every decision you make is scrutinized, right? For every decision you make there are strong opinions about what you should do. Just think about the options.
Should you be a working mom or a stay-at-home mom?
Should you breastfeed or bottle feed?
Should you use cloth diapers or disposable diapers?
Should you homeschool, public school, or private school?
Should you allow sleepovers or not allow sleepovers?
Don’t even get me started on vaccines!
The opinions on these issues are so strong that if you are in a certain community that really feels strongly about some of these opinions and you take a different approach, you’re just going to feel guilt heaped on you.
Now, I think it should be pretty obvious that a lot of that guilt is actually false guilt. There’s liberty in Christ, freedom in Christ to make a lot of decisions about parenting and motherhood that the Bible does not specifically dictate. There’s freedom in Christ for that.
But what about real guilt? What about your real sins, your real failures? This applies to dads, too. (Isn’t it ironic that on Father’s Day I’m making an application of moms?) Maybe there’s a dad guilt thing. If you feel guilty as a dad, you apply this to yourself as well. What do you do when you know you’ve blown it, when you know you’ve sinned? What’s the solution to that?
Well, the solution is verse 7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” You have to learn to apply the gospel of God’s forgiveness given to us in and through Jesus Christ, you have to learn to apply that to the specific aspects of your life where identity is so shaped by these roles that we inhabit and by our perceived failure or success in those roles.
John Bunyan has been helpful for me with this. Let me give you an illustration from John Bunyan. This is not from The Pilgrim’s Progress, which is his most famous book; this is a lesser-known book, but well worth your time. It’s called The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, and there’s a place in the book where he imagines Satan coming to you, the devil coming to you with his accusations. Remember, Satan is the accuser of the brothers. How does the devil come at you, and then how should you respond?
Satan comes, and this is what he says: “You’ve been my servant, my slave. Will you forsake me now? Having so often sold yourself to me to work wickedness, will you forsake me now? You horrible wretch! Don’t you know that you sinned yourself beyond the reach of grace?”
Stop right there. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt like you’ve sinned yourself beyond the reach of grace? Keep going.
“Do you think you’ll find mercy now?” the enemy says. “You’re a murderer, a thief, a harlot, a witch, a sinner of the greatest size! Do you look for mercy now? Do you think Christ will dirty his hands with you?”
Those kinds of thoughts are some of the greatest obstacles in the spiritual life we ever face. Have I sinned myself beyond the reach of God’s grace? How do you answer? This is what Bunyan says. He says the Christian will not despair, but says, “It is true. I am Magdalene, I am Zaccheus, I am the thief, I am the harlot, I am the publican, I am the prodigal, and one of Christ’s murderers. Yes, I am worse than any of these, and yet God has not rejected me. In fact, there was music and dancing in his house for me; there was joy in heaven when I came home to him.”
It’s grace! It’s grace, which means you can be forgiven, you can be received, you can be welcomed back to God’s table, to his family.
4. You Are Secure in Christ
In Christ you are chosen. In Christ you are adopted. In Christ you are forgiven, no matter what you’ve done. And in Christ you are secure.
You are secure in Christ; that’s point number four, verses 13-14. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Once again, there’s a very vivid word picture here that Paul uses. He says, “You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” In the ancient world, a seal did three things. A seal would show ownership, it would authenticate something as genuine, and it would guarantee protection or safety.
In the same way, when I get a new book, I have this embossing tool, so that when I get a new book, the first thing I do before I shelve the book is I emboss the book with my stamp, that says, “From the library of Brian Hedges.” I do that so that when I loan a book out, hopefully someday somebody will open that back up and they’ll say, “Oh, this belongs to Brian!” and they’ll bring it back. It’s to show ownership, folks! So, any of you who have my books, this is just a nice reminder, please return them.
I do that to show ownership of the books, right? In the same way, when we receive the promised Holy Spirit in our lives, it shows that we belong to God. We belong to him; we’re part of his family, part of his kingdom. It shows ownership.
It also authenticates as genuine. You know how when you have to notarize a document, you go to a notary republic and you sign it in their presence. Why are you doing that? You’re doing that so that you can show that this is authentically your signature, and some organizations will require that—maybe a legal document or something like that. It has to be notarized. In the same way, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives authenticates us as genuine Christians. In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:9 that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It’s the presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart and life that shows that you’re a real Christian.
Here’s the other thing: the seal secured something. In the same way that you buy a new bottle of Tylenol and you’ll read something that says, “If this seal is broken, don’t use,” right? There’s a seal around the lid to show that this has not been tampered with; it’s secured. Well, the Holy Spirit is the one who secures us in our salvation; he keeps us.
What this means is that it’s the presence of the Spirit in our lives that keeps us in the faith, keeps us in grace, keeps us in Christ.
You know the words of that hymn we sing sometimes:
O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
What’s the solution? What’s the solution when we feel prone to wander?
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it;
Seal it for thy courts above.
That’s what the Holy Spirit does. He seals us, secures us; he brings us back, he keeps us in the faith.
We’ve seen four things: You are chosen in Christ, adopted in Christ, forgiven in Christ, and secure in Christ.
Conclusion
In conclusion and very briefly, let me point out for application how powerful this is and how distinctive and unique this way of understanding identity is for believers. I want to give you three things. (We have three minutes left, then we’re done.) Three distinct features of Christian identity that make it different from the kind of identity you get from the world.
Here’s the first thing: Christian identity is based on grace, not performance. If you’re trying to define yourself in terms of the world, one of the ways that’s going to happen is how well you perform—how well you perform in school, how well you perform in your job, how well you perform as a parent, how successful you are in life—I mean, we’re constantly being judged by our performance. But not by God. Not by God! It’s by grace, and it’s by grace alone.
Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
The works follow grace; they don’t come before. Your identity is not based on what you do, your identity is based on God’s grace and on God’s grace alone.
Number two, your identity comes from Christ, not from some other social group. If we had time to show it in Ephesians, one of the primary thrusts of this letter to the Ephesians is how the Jews and the Gentiles, two different ethnic groups, are actually one in Christ Jesus, and Paul shows that the distinctions between them are broken down and they’re one in Christ Jesus.
One of the temptations in the world is constantly to define ourselves by which social group we belong to. This is where identity politics comes from, right? Your social identity, this is where it comes from. This is where the division comes from, this is where the partisanship comes from. This is why America is such a divided country right now, because people are identifying themselves by their social groups. But in Christ, if you’re a Christian, your identity does not come from your social group, it comes from Christ himself. There’s neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.
Listen, Christian: your primary identity is not your racial background, it’s not your ethnicity, it’s not your socioeconomic bracket, it’s not your job, it’s not your education level, it’s not your political party, it’s not even your nationality, the country to which you belong; your primary identity is found in Jesus Christ.
Number three, the third distinctive of Christian identity, your identity is for God’s glory, not for self-promotion. This is the other problem with worldly identity; people are constantly trying to construct an identity by which they can promote themselves, right? We live in the age of the selfie; we live in the age of constant social media. What is social media? It is primarily a platform for self-promotion. But that is not why you get a new identity in Christ.
You can see this in Ephesians 1. Maybe you noticed this when we read it through, the refrain of this hymn, this hymn of praise to God, that celebrates the blessings that are given to us by God our Father through Jesus Christ. Three times Paul tells us why these blessings are given.
Verse 6: “. . . to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.” Verse 12: “. . . so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” Verse 14: “. . . to the praise of his glory.”
Why are you saved? Why are you chosen, adopted, forgiven, and secured? Not for self-promotion, but for the praise of the glory of the grace of God. Understanding our identity in Christ should therefore lead us to worship; it should lead us to praise; it should lead us out of ourselves, into love for our Savior.
Christian, do you know who you are in Christ? Do you have a firm grip on your theological passport? Do you know what it means to be a Christian? Are you secure, stable in your identity in him? Look to Christ this morning; you’re safe, you’re secure in him. Trust in him, and if you’ve never become a Christian, may today be the day where you turn away from all the ways that the world is trying to define you, and instead find your identity in and through Jesus Christ. Let’s pray together.
Father, thank you this morning for your word, thank you for the rich gospel truth of Ephesians 1. We’ve only scratched the surface of it this morning, but I pray that these truths we’ve considered would bolster our hearts, would give us strength, would give us joy, and would lead us into lives of worship and of praise of you.
Lord, as we come to the Lord’s table this morning, may we come with hearts trusting in what Christ has done, the grace given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world, the grace purchased for us by Christ on the cross as he redeemed us at the price of his own blood, and the grace applied to our hearts by the ministry of your Holy Spirit, who seals us for the day of redemption. May we look to you and your saving work in these moments. Prepare our hearts as we come to the table, and draw near to us, we pray in Jesus’ name and for his sake, amen.
Brian G. Hedges
