We Are In Christ, 5 January 2014
Big Idea: Our identity can be found in ourselves, our world, or in Christ.
Who are you? Few questions are more important.
When you meet someone for the first time, how do you introduce yourself after you provide your name? An American? Married? Engineer? Mom? Athlete? Geek? Hunter? Fisherman? Musician?
What three words best describe you?
We tend to think what we do determines who we are. The opposite is true. Who we are determines what we do.
This idea was reinforced this past week in an article I read about swimmers.
In Rolf Dobelli’s book, The Art of Thinking Clearly, he explains how our ideas about talent and extensive training are well off-track:
“Professional swimmers don’t have perfect bodies because they train extensively. Rather, they are good swimmers because of their physiques. How their bodies are designed is a factor for selection and not the result of their activities.”
Did you catch that?
You are not who you are because of what you do, but what you do is because of who you are—your identity.
As we begin the new year, it’s a great time to reflect upon our identity.
Who are you?
I can ask who you think you are, but a more important question is…
Who does God say you are?
You are not your occupation, your IQ, your education, your income, or social status. You are a human being created with value, dignity and worth.
In the first book of the Bible, we see God’s plan for us.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28)
You and I were created by God in His image and likeness. We were made to mirror God to the world. When we love, forgive, speak truth, and are generous we reflect His character to others. The goal is not for the world to know us, but Him.
The question should not be “how does this make me look?” but “how does this make God look?” That’s worship, imaging God.
We are not God, but we’re also more than just an animal with thumbs.
We were created to rule over creation.
We were blessed. We didn’t deserve or earn blessing, but that’s God’s grace. We have been blessed to bless others.
Many think identity is about what they do, but our identity is received, not achieved.
You are not more or less valuable than anyone else, healthy or sick, rich or poor, born or unborn. This is unique about our faith, the belief that all are image-bearers. Your net worth has nothing to do with your self worth.
This is why we don’t believe in racism, sexism, classism.
God says we are cherished children, which begs the question…
Who does satan say we are?
Personal evil is real, a created angelic being who rebelled against God named satan. He wants to steal, kill and destroy. In Genesis 3, he lied and deceived Adam and Eve and destroyed them…and us. The power of a lie is contingent upon whether or not it is believed.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Here we see identity. Satan tempts them to be like God. We were already created like God! Our identity is received from God, not achieved by what we do.
Who are you?
Our new series on the book of Ephesians seeks to address this simple yet profound question, both in terms of who you are as an individual and who we are as a church, the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ.
Where: Ephesus
Have you been to Ephesus? I have not, but I know many things about it. First, it was the most important city in what is now western Turkey. It was a harbor city at an intersection of major trade routes which means…commerce, people, culture, diversity. Although Ann Arbor lacks a harbor, we have I-94, M-14, US-23, and nearby Detroit Metro Airport. Ephesus had a great pagan temple dedicated to Diana, a Roman goddess, one of the seven great wonders of the world. Ann Arbor has a great temple dedicated to…football (and an occasional hockey game!). Like our town, it had a huge library that is still visited today.
The church in this city flourished, though it later received a warning in Revelation 2:1-7.
The city had about 250,000 people which is about the population of the Ann Arbor area. Luke’s grave is there. It was a central hub for the early church.
The gospel transformed one of the greatest cities in the world.
They have dug up about 10-15% of the city. The streets are marble despite being thousands of years old.
They are unearthing New Testament homes, some of which are quite large, some with large great rooms to entertain and practice hospitality.
A 25,000 seat amphitheater is still standing. You can stand at the bottom, drop a coin at the bottom, and hear it at the top.
From: Paul
Paul wrote this letter, possibly around a.d. 60 while in a Roman prison. He knew Ephesus well as it was his base of operations for about three years of evangelism.
Some have said they like Jesus but not Paul. However, as an apostle, Paul speaks under the authority of Jesus. If you don’t like Paul, you can’t like Jesus!
To: Audience
Although we can summarize and call Ephesians a letter from Paul to the church in the city of Ephesus, his intended audience seems to be broader. Unlike other letters written to specific churches to address specific issues, this message is more universal and this letter was likely passed among various churches in the region. It may be the letter referenced in the book of Colossians as a letter to Laodicea. This makes it especially relevant for us since he is not reacting to unique circumstances but declaring God’s truth to multiple generations.
Paul does so with great precision. Paper was scarce, so he packed a tremendous amount of information in 155 verses. Despite their brevity, it took John Calvin about 700 pages to describe them and Dr Lloyd Jones five times as many! It’s as if Paul compressed a huge piece of theology into four pages like a zip file on your computer or even a loaf of bread that grows and expands when you let it sit.
Themes
In a word, Ephesians is about grace. In two words, our identity in Christ.
In Christ
We can find our identity in our job, family, nationality…or in Jesus. The Bible uses the word “Christian” three times but the phrase “in Christ” appears more than two hundred times! We’re not going to look at each today, but I want you to see nine that appear in the first thirteen verses of chapter one. We are
faithful in Christ (1:1; remember who you are, then you’ll know what to do)
blessed in Christ (1:3)
chosen in Christ (1:4)
made blameless in Christ (1:4)
we can know the will of God in Christ (1:9)
reconciled to God in Christ (1:10)
we have an inheritance in Christ (1:11)
our hope is in Christ (not your job, friends, family!) (1:12)
we have the Holy Spirit in Christ (1:13)
These are only nine of thirty things we’ll see we have in Christ.
Conclusion
Who are you? Who are we? From now until Easter we will examine these questions as we journey through the book of Ephesians. I encourage you to read through it—along with Psalms and Proverbs which we are using as the content for this year’s Scio Journal on our Facebook page. One of our Life Groups at 11 AM will provide opportunities for you to reflect and interact on these scriptures about identity.
Credits
Some ideas from
J.I. Packer, Ephesians (sermon series audio)
Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are (book and podcast series)
GLO Bible
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Who are you? Few questions are more important.
When you meet someone for the first time, how do you introduce yourself after you provide your name? An American? Married? Engineer? Mom? Athlete? Geek? Hunter? Fisherman? Musician?
What three words best describe you?
We tend to think what we do determines who we are. The opposite is true. Who we are determines what we do.
This idea was reinforced this past week in an article I read about swimmers.
In Rolf Dobelli’s book, The Art of Thinking Clearly, he explains how our ideas about talent and extensive training are well off-track:
“Professional swimmers don’t have perfect bodies because they train extensively. Rather, they are good swimmers because of their physiques. How their bodies are designed is a factor for selection and not the result of their activities.”
Did you catch that?
You are not who you are because of what you do, but what you do is because of who you are—your identity.
As we begin the new year, it’s a great time to reflect upon our identity.
Who are you?
I can ask who you think you are, but a more important question is…
Who does God say you are?
You are not your occupation, your IQ, your education, your income, or social status. You are a human being created with value, dignity and worth.
In the first book of the Bible, we see God’s plan for us.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28)
You and I were created by God in His image and likeness. We were made to mirror God to the world. When we love, forgive, speak truth, and are generous we reflect His character to others. The goal is not for the world to know us, but Him.
The question should not be “how does this make me look?” but “how does this make God look?” That’s worship, imaging God.
We are not God, but we’re also more than just an animal with thumbs.
We were created to rule over creation.
We were blessed. We didn’t deserve or earn blessing, but that’s God’s grace. We have been blessed to bless others.
Many think identity is about what they do, but our identity is received, not achieved.
You are not more or less valuable than anyone else, healthy or sick, rich or poor, born or unborn. This is unique about our faith, the belief that all are image-bearers. Your net worth has nothing to do with your self worth.
This is why we don’t believe in racism, sexism, classism.
God says we are cherished children, which begs the question…
Who does satan say we are?
Personal evil is real, a created angelic being who rebelled against God named satan. He wants to steal, kill and destroy. In Genesis 3, he lied and deceived Adam and Eve and destroyed them…and us. The power of a lie is contingent upon whether or not it is believed.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Here we see identity. Satan tempts them to be like God. We were already created like God! Our identity is received from God, not achieved by what we do.
Who are you?
Our new series on the book of Ephesians seeks to address this simple yet profound question, both in terms of who you are as an individual and who we are as a church, the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ.
Where: Ephesus
Have you been to Ephesus? I have not, but I know many things about it. First, it was the most important city in what is now western Turkey. It was a harbor city at an intersection of major trade routes which means…commerce, people, culture, diversity. Although Ann Arbor lacks a harbor, we have I-94, M-14, US-23, and nearby Detroit Metro Airport. Ephesus had a great pagan temple dedicated to Diana, a Roman goddess, one of the seven great wonders of the world. Ann Arbor has a great temple dedicated to…football (and an occasional hockey game!). Like our town, it had a huge library that is still visited today.
The church in this city flourished, though it later received a warning in Revelation 2:1-7.
The city had about 250,000 people which is about the population of the Ann Arbor area. Luke’s grave is there. It was a central hub for the early church.
The gospel transformed one of the greatest cities in the world.
They have dug up about 10-15% of the city. The streets are marble despite being thousands of years old.
They are unearthing New Testament homes, some of which are quite large, some with large great rooms to entertain and practice hospitality.
A 25,000 seat amphitheater is still standing. You can stand at the bottom, drop a coin at the bottom, and hear it at the top.
From: Paul
Paul wrote this letter, possibly around a.d. 60 while in a Roman prison. He knew Ephesus well as it was his base of operations for about three years of evangelism.
Some have said they like Jesus but not Paul. However, as an apostle, Paul speaks under the authority of Jesus. If you don’t like Paul, you can’t like Jesus!
To: Audience
Although we can summarize and call Ephesians a letter from Paul to the church in the city of Ephesus, his intended audience seems to be broader. Unlike other letters written to specific churches to address specific issues, this message is more universal and this letter was likely passed among various churches in the region. It may be the letter referenced in the book of Colossians as a letter to Laodicea. This makes it especially relevant for us since he is not reacting to unique circumstances but declaring God’s truth to multiple generations.
Paul does so with great precision. Paper was scarce, so he packed a tremendous amount of information in 155 verses. Despite their brevity, it took John Calvin about 700 pages to describe them and Dr Lloyd Jones five times as many! It’s as if Paul compressed a huge piece of theology into four pages like a zip file on your computer or even a loaf of bread that grows and expands when you let it sit.
Themes
In a word, Ephesians is about grace. In two words, our identity in Christ.
In Christ
We can find our identity in our job, family, nationality…or in Jesus. The Bible uses the word “Christian” three times but the phrase “in Christ” appears more than two hundred times! We’re not going to look at each today, but I want you to see nine that appear in the first thirteen verses of chapter one. We are
faithful in Christ (1:1; remember who you are, then you’ll know what to do)
blessed in Christ (1:3)
chosen in Christ (1:4)
made blameless in Christ (1:4)
we can know the will of God in Christ (1:9)
reconciled to God in Christ (1:10)
we have an inheritance in Christ (1:11)
our hope is in Christ (not your job, friends, family!) (1:12)
we have the Holy Spirit in Christ (1:13)
These are only nine of thirty things we’ll see we have in Christ.
Conclusion
Who are you? Who are we? From now until Easter we will examine these questions as we journey through the book of Ephesians. I encourage you to read through it—along with Psalms and Proverbs which we are using as the content for this year’s Scio Journal on our Facebook page. One of our Life Groups at 11 AM will provide opportunities for you to reflect and interact on these scriptures about identity.
Credits
Some ideas from
J.I. Packer, Ephesians (sermon series audio)
Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are (book and podcast series)
GLO Bible
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.