Is Your Identity in Christ?

For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge…Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 1 Cor 1:6-9

Renewing your mind with your identity in Christ is the most important endeavor you will ever engage in. So many messages we receive from media and from others remind us where we fall short and what we aren’t. The messages are so frequent and so abounding that unless we engage in an intentional, proactive renewing of our mind from the Bible regarding our true identity, our culture will steal our true identity and replace it with a pseudo-you!

Identity theft is never pretty, but when it comes to our identity in Christ, this is the worst of all types of identity theft.

I want to be the type of shepherd Paul was for the Corinthian church. If you recall from 1 Corinthians, there were many challenges facing their church. I often read the letters to the Corinthians just to get encouragement. Think Peninsula Covenant Church has challenges? The Corinthian church was dealing with incestuous relationships in the church (1 Cor 5), tons of division because of multiple factors (1 Cor 3), members suing each other in court (1 Cor 6), sexual immorality (1 Cor 6), idolatry (1 Cor 8), members coming to the worship gatherings drunk (1 Cor 11) and so much more. Kinda makes PCC’s challenges look mild by comparison doesn’t it?

So in opening this letter, I would expect Paul to have guns blazing and rebukes abounding. However, Paul is far more spiritual than that; instead, he brings them to positional truths regarding their true identity. He reminds them in the first nine verses that:

• They have been made holy by Jesus (2)
• They have been called to live a life of holiness (2)
• God has made grace and peace available to them (3)
• Paul is always thanking God for them (4) (Always?!?)
• The are rich in every way in Jesus (5)
• They lack no spiritual gift (7)
• Jesus willingly takes on the responsibility for our spiritual strength (8)
• We can bank everything on God’s faithfulness (9)

Just typing these truths makes my spirit soar! Can I ask you a very important question? If renewing our mind with positional truths regarding our identity in Christ is vital to our life as a child in God, how are you doing in this pursuit? How are we doing corporately as a church in this pursuit? Maybe our inconsistency personally and corporately is directly related to the answer to those questions. Why not make it a priority to renew your mind in regards to your identity in Christ?

Want more positional truths? Click on this link: http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm

This Sunday I will launch our five-week series on the book of Jonah. Please read Jonah 1 in preparation and come hungry and humble.