Our Identity in Christ

Year A - 2019-2020  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  25:11
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Bill Tell in his book Lay It Down: Living in the Freedom of the Gospel wrote the following:
A number of years ago I was discipling a young man who had recently been released from the state’s juvenile detention center. As a teenager he had been hooked on drugs, and he had resorted to stealing to support his habit. His behavior had resulted in a new, unwanted identity. Standing before the judge, he likely heard something like this: “You stole (behavior), you are a thief (identity).” Not only was he declared guilty of law-breaking behavior, he was condemned as a thief.
Parents often follow the same pattern with their children. A young teen comes home from school with another disappointing grade. Perhaps they got a speeding ticket. I’ve talked with countless students whose fathers’ words still haunt and define them: “You failed again (behavior) . . . you really blew it (behavior) . . . you are a failure (identity) . . . you are a disappointment (identity).” They were given identities based on their behavior.
You sin, therefore you are a sinner. For those of us who are believers, is this a true statement? The behavioral part is certainly true: we still sin. The apostle Paul, writing as a mature believer, laments in Romans 7:19 that “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” Likewise, the apostle John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8).
But what about the last part of the statement: you sin, therefore you are a sinner? Is this part true of a follower of Jesus? Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that “what is worse than doing evil is being evil.” Paul openly admitted he still did evil but rejoiced that God did not consider him an evil person. He continues on in Romans 8:1: “There is . . . no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
This is the absurd and exhilarating good news of the gospel: our identity is no longer based on our behavior; it is based on the behavior of Jesus! This is why we are called “saints” (for example, Romans 1:7). Our identity is not that of sinners trying hard to become saints. We are saints (because of Jesus’ behavior) who, like Paul, continue to do things we hate—and sometimes sadly don’t hate.
Bill Tell, Lay It Down: Living in the Freedom of the Gospel, The Navigators.
Our identity is important-so important, in fact, that we spend time, energy, and money "finding" ourselves.
There are many tools to work through this process-the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, StrengthsFinder, and numerous other personality tests and spiritual gift assessments.
We know that finding a self-identity is an important developmental marker of early adolescence. If you have a child in that age group, it might be frustrating to hear that, after weeks of being very passionate about one thing, they suddenly are very passionate about something totally different. Or, perhaps you remember the inner turmoil you felt at that age-trying different outfits, styles of music, and social groups because you wanted to learn who you were.
There is also something known as an identity crisis. Some associate this with being middle-aged. Some of you may be experiencing this now, as you wrestle with big questions about your life and the type of person you have been and the type of person you want to be.
Identity is important. Our passage today is about identity. But, where we often point toward personality traits or even interests as being the markers for our identity, Paul points somewhere else. He calls believers to remember their baptism. Paul proclaims that this initiating sacrament into the body of Jesus Christ-this act of grace, of being identified as one who belongs to Jesus-is, in fact, the core identity for those of us who follow Jesus. It is like having a parent tell a child to remember the family name. Remember who you are.
This is an appropriate reminder in the season of Lent because at the core of the work of Lent is this remembering our identity-stripping away the sin, the distractions, to once again find our identity in Christ.
We find our identity in baptism

Baptism unites us in the death of Christ.

There is practical symbolism of this death in the sacrament of baptism.
Whether someone is baptized as an infant, a child, or an adult, there is an act of surrender in the midst of baptism.
Water is poured over someone, or someone is immersed into water, which not only shows a washing away but is also symbolic of dying.
Then that individual is raised up, out of the water, with words of life and resurrection spoken over them.
Paul wrote there in verse 4:
Romans 6:4 CEB
4 Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life.
Look at that verse carefully.
We were buried together with him.
When we are baptized it is just as if we were buried with Jesus on that day that He died for the world.
We were buried together with him through baptism into his death.
There it is, when we are baptized, we are buried together with Christ into his death. That is a mystery of how that happens, but it does. One author put it this way:

Every negative in the Scripture is for the sake of a positive. We are saved from in order to be saved to. Lostness is the absence or perversion of all the positive values. Redemption is such a dynamic deliverance that it actually removes and destroys the enslaving opposites and enthrones the new Christ life. Thus we share not only in Christ’s death but also in His resurrection and His life.

It is important to note, as we are called to be baptized, that Jesus was also baptized.
This act of baptism unites us with the mission of God in the world.
Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his public ministry, showing the ways he was joining the mission of God in the world.
The act of Jesus's baptism was one of identity.
When Jesus was baptized his identity as the Son of God was cemented in this great Trinitarian moment.
God the father declared Jesus as God's Son.
The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove.
John the Baptist also speaks of the identity of Jesus as the Messiah.
Being united in the death of Christ gives us an identity as well.
We are dying to sin. Before we come to faith in Christ we are dying. Paul wrote
Romans 6:23 CEB
23 The wages that sin pays are death, but God’s gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I read a funny story that was entitled “The Wages of Sin is Stupidity”
Ann Landers received a letter from a woman who had broken off an affair with a married man and now ten years later wondered if she should have. She still had a nostalgic itch, and her mind was full of "what ifs" and "if onlys." She wondered if "you knew of a magic switch that could turn off that ever-present longing." After reading this, another reader sent in her story:
"I met the love of my life when I was twenty-two. He was forty-two and married. Today I am sixty-four. He is eighty-four. His poor sick wife is still with him. As recently as last night he repeated that familiar line: 'Please wait for me, darling, we will have a life together one of these days. Just be patient.'
''Just how much longer does he think he will live? The man is full of arthritis and has a devil of a time getting out of a chair. He repeats himself constantly and can never remember what he did with his eyeglasses. I must have been nuts to allow him to keep me on the string this long. Somehow the years just flew by and before I knew it he was an old man and I was no spring chicken. Several months ago when I told him what a fool I had been, he said, 'If you want to meet someone else go ahead, but you will never find anyone who loves you more than I do.' I'd give anything if I could turn the clock back to when I was twenty-two. I would have told him to call me up when his divorce was final."
That is what sin does in our lives. This woman had lived most of her adult life hoping that the love of her life would divorce his wife so that they could be together. Stupid, but that is the way sin works, it makes us make stupid decisions like this.
Our baptismal vows include forsaking a life of sin, in order to illustrate the ways that baptism and death to sin are connected.
This dying to sin is also a death to selfishness. Our focus is no longer on ourselves but on love for God and others. Paul writes in verse 6:
Romans 6:6 CEB
6 This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore,
He says “this is what we know.” We know that the person that we used to be was crucified with him. That is what we know. Reminds me of that Gaither song “Thanks to Calvalry”
Thanks to Calv'ry I am not the man I used to be, Thanks to Calv'ry things are different than before. While the tears ran down my face, I tried to tell them him, "Thanks to Calv'ry I don't live here anymore."
When we are baptized we are crucified with Christ, we are buried with him. We are no longer the person we once were.
One of my favorite verses says this:
Galatians 2:20 CEB
20 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I have been crucified, I no longer live but Christ lives in me.
Dying to sin also means joining a new restorative mission in the world.
A large point for Paul here is that dying to sin is equal to dying to legalism. Trying to live by the letter of the law is not the focus of those following Jesus. Instead, the focus is on who we are called to be and who we are becoming in Christ.
However, for the early Christians listening to this, there was a promising possibility for a very real death as well.
This way of the cross that Paul laid out for people was one of very real suffering. While most of this passage is metaphorical and speaking to the death of sin, there is also an overwhelming sense that people would read this passage and know that joining Christ could call for their lives being laid down for others in much the same way.

In baptism, resurrection has the final word.

Being united in Christ's death, means being united in Christ's resurrection.
This is not about how to die so much as how to live in the resurrection. Because of the resurrection, we don't fear death.

If we have truly shared in his death, as baptism symbolizes, then we shall equally share in his resurrection—not only in a future age but now in a new life consecrated to Him.

The church is a body of believers who do not fear death because of the resurrection. Thus, we follow Christ even in the face of the most difficult obstacles. This new life is a here and now reality and also a future reality.
This is an important identifier for the members of the early church who often faced death for radically stating, "Jesus is Lord!" versus "Caesar is Lord."
This is important for the global church today because people are killed for many of the same reasons.
Listen to these statistics from Open Doors which reports on persecution of Christians around the world:
4,136: Christians killed for faith-related reasons in the top 50 world watch list countries.
2,625: Christians detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned in the top 50 world watch list countries.
1,266: churches or Christian buildings attacked in the top 50 world watch list countries.
7 out of 9: In seven of the countries in the World Watch List’s top 10, the primary cause of persecution is Islamic oppression.
11: countries scoring in the “extreme” level for their persecution of Christians. Five years ago, North Korea was the only one.
18: Consecutive years North Korea has ranked No. 1 as the world’s most dangerous place for Christians. (1)
This is important for us, even if we don't face physical death for following Jesus. There will at times be difficulties for following the way of Christ.
The church is able to sow seeds of resurrection in the most difficult places in the world.
Many places in our world are darkened by violence, poverty, disease, and despair. As a people who identify with the resurrection, we are able to walk boldly into places other people wouldn't want to go. We can be instruments of righteousness in the world.
There is a hopeful optimism that death, in all of the ways it reveals itself, does not have to be the end.
The resurrection enables us to live in hope.
Hope should be part of the baptized identity.
We hope for the restoration and resurrection of all things.
The resurrection God brings about in us is the work that God wants to do in all people.
Our call is to go into the world and baptize others, which means inviting them into this resurrection life too.
We see later in Romans this groaning of the entire creation to be restored.
Romans 8:22–25 CEB
22 We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. 23 And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. 24 We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? 25 But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
We have hope that even the worst of the world will be renewed through resurrection.
We hope for freedom from sin.
This is a big part of Paul's message here. We are no longer trapped in a cycle of sin but are freed from it. For those of us who identify as Wesleyan/Holiness, this is key to our theology. God does not leave us to be trapped in our sin; through the resurrection, we can be free from the power of sin in our lives.
Look there at verses 10 & 11:
Romans 6:10–11 CEB
10 He died to sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his life. 11 In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
Here are the facts that Paul is pointing out there:
Jesus died to sin once and for all.
Jesus lives for God.
We are dead to sin.
We are alive for God in Christ Jesus.

Our identity is ultimately found in our baptism: being united in Christ's death and resurrection.

This passage speaks of things that can be competing identities. We know people who use personality as an excuse for sin. Some refuse to live in the hope of conquering sin, and instead lead lives trapped in the same cycles. Many also define themselves by their past choices even after overcoming sin, instead of walking into the freedom of Christ.
Excuses, there is an old song that says “excuses, excuses we use them every day.” Some people do.
Sometimes we can even blame God for our sin. One Sunday morning, a cop in a small town was parked at the curb when he saw a car swerving all over the road. Taking off in hot pursuit, he pulled the driver over, and recognised him as an alcoholic named Frank. The policeman said, "Frank, you're driving all over the place." Frank said, "I'm just trying to get to church, man." Noticing a bottle on the seat next to Frank, the cop asked, "What's that on your seat, Frank?" "It's just water," said Frank. "Give it to me," the cop demanded. He took a whiff. "That's not water," he said. "That's wine." Frank just looked up to heaven and said, "Wow, He did it again."
Excuses will not be accepted when we face God at the final judgement.
Our ultimate identity should be found in Christ. Embracing this identity leads to freedom.
Freedom from sin, freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom.
God spoke to Moses and said “I’ll set you free with great power and with momentous events of justice.”
Jesus said:
John 8:31–36 CEB
31 Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They responded, “We are Abraham’s children; we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. How can you say that we will be set free?” 34 Jesus answered, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 A slave isn’t a permanent member of the household, but a son is. 36 Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you really will be free.
That is not just a pipe dream, that is a reality, we are set free because of what Jesus has done for us.
The defining characteristic is grace, a focus on grace instead of works.
Those with an identity rooted in Christ join the mission of God in the world through lives lived as instruments of righteousness.
CONCLUSION
At one time it was very popular to ask the question "What would Jesus do?" The question was posed to help people think through decisions. But the question for the baptized is not a question of behavior modification but identity transformation. Who would Jesus be?
Jesus, crucified and risen, calls us to the same path, the same identity. He calls us to be united with him in his suffering and death, that we may also know the power of his resurrection-power over sin and over death; power that gives us the boldness to look into the darkest places of our world and enter with words of hope and power.
As we enter more deeply into this season of Lent, let us take time to remember our baptism, to remember who we are, to join the mission of God in the world as we are transformed each day to look more and more like Christ.
If you haven’t been baptized, why not? Be obedient to Christ and follow him into baptism. We have a couple of young men who are going to be baptized in just a few weeks. Won’t you join them?
1 - https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/christian-persecution-by-the-numbers/
Adapted from Lenten Postcards Sermon Outlines - The Foundry Publishing, 2019
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