Lesson 3 Our Identity in Christ Introduction: Did you know that there was once an eagle who thought he was a turkey? Somehow before he was hatched, his egg got placed in the nest of a turkey. When he hatched, all the turkeys looked at him and knew he was different, but he had no idea he was different. He thought he was a turkey. He pecked the ground for food and flapped his wings like the other turkeys. And he tried to gobble the best he could. One day he looked up in the sky and saw a beautiful eagle soaring. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He flapped and fluttered his wings and wished he could soar like an eagle. Finally, his mother turkey told him that he was an eagle and that he could fly. He wouldn t believe it and continued to live like a turkey. One day, his mother took him and the other turkeys to the top of a cliff. Without warning, she nudged the eagle off the edge of the cliff. He began to flutter and the mother told him to stretch out his wings. He did and immediately glided through the air. Then he flew in circles above the turkeys, shouting, Look, I can fly! God made me into an eagle! You know, we re a lot like that eagle. God created us to be His children to have our spirits united with His Spirit. But we go through this world, even as Christians, trying to live our lives in our own strength. We forget that Christ lives in us and that we can live victoriously in His transforming power. Knowing your identity in Christ will transform your mind and life! Discussion Ideas: 1. Where is Jesus? Is He in our hearts, around us, or in every part of us? 2. Who are you or how would you describe your identity? (A person, a Christian, an athlete, a musician, a friend, etc. The most important part of your identity is that you are united with Christ. You are in Christ and Christ is in you.) 3. If Christ is in us, why does sin still play a part in our lives? 4. How can we live more victoriously?
Truths that Transform: 1. My image bearing is restored! God created each of us, Christian and non-christian alike, to be image bearers of Him. This gives each person value and dignity. Our sin comes as a dividing wall to keep us from fully recognizing who we are as God s children. When we become Christians, not only do we bear God s image, but Christ s Spirit unites with ours. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Genesis 1:26). 2. I was dead, but now I m alive! When we commit our lives to Jesus in faith and repentance (which means turning 180 degrees around), our old self dies and we have a new life. WOW! Look at who I am: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-6). 3. In Christ we have a completely new identity. When we become Christians, God gives us a new identity. It could be called the In Christ identity. Our skin color and our race haven t changed, but the core of our being has. We are made new we are God s people! We are free from the guilt of sin, completely forgiven, dead but more alive than ever before, a royal priesthood. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people
of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul (1 Peter 2:9-11). 4. How do we deal with sin? We listen to the Spirit s conviction when sin bears its ugly head in our lives. Confess it, and celebrate God s forgiveness and get on with the victory! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Sin wages its war against me. My identity is no longer sinner. It is saint, washed in the blood of Jesus, but there is still a battle between our new identity and sin. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin (Romans 7:14-25). As we understand that Christ s Spirit lives in us, we realize our complete victory over sin in our lives through Him. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law (Galatians 5:16-18). Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole
house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts2:1-4). 5. Guilt-free living We don t have to struggle with guilt anymore. Praise God! Guilt is one of Satan s tools to keep us from living victoriously. A healthy sense of conviction of sin from the Holy Spirit is good, but once we have confessed it we can live thankfully in God s forgiveness. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Did you hear that? Say it a few times: NO condemnation. Let it sink in. Once you have confessed your sin, move on! We are set free. We learned already in the grace lesson, this does not mean we have a free ticket to sin why would we want to live with the destructive consequences of sin? Sin destroys. Just because there is no condemnation does not mean we can just go out and sin more because our sins are forgiven. No, because of Jesus sacrifice, we don t want to live lives that displease Him or bring bondage in our own lives. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2). 6. The fruits of the Spirit. Did you know that all the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 are available to us? We can ask God to live out what He has already put in us. Then we can be more aware of His presence and fruits in our lives. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23). Sometimes people say, I need more joy, but the fruit of Jesus Spirit is joy and He lives in us. Abide in Him and let His joy be your joy. The same is true of the rest of the fruits. For example, instead of trying on your own strength to be more patient, focus on your relationship with Him and let the fruit of His Spirit live through you. It s hard to believe that the living God lives His life through us, but what an amazing truth to guide us each day! Express It and Live It!
Allow your mind to be transformed. Think about what each of the following things mean and begin to live by them: 1. I am free from sin, guilt and condemnation. I see the battle going on in me, but now I know that I am in Christ and I am washed in His blood! My clean heart doesn t depend on me being good enough because I can t do it. I depend on the fact that I am washed in Jesus blood. 2. I don t have to let Satan play his guilt games with me any more lust, greed, pride, etc. Confess them to Christ and thank Him for His grace, and then move on. 3. I am under the Lordship of Christ. To win the battles in life, I daily submit to Him. 4. I am a chosen person, a royal priesthood. 5. Christ s fruits are in me joy is in me I need to remember who I am and submit to His joy, love, peace, etc. 6. I don t ever have to doubt if I am a believer. Remember the day of your conversion or recommitment to Christ, or set this day as a day to remember and don t let those doubts drag you down. 7. Consider the old self dead, and live in victory! 8. Christ is in all of me, not just in my heart. Start looking at people with an In Christ perspective remember who they really are. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16). Review: 1. I am a new Christian. Tell me who I am in Christ. What has changed about me? a. No condemnation b. Sin no longer has control over my new self. c. I don t have to live in guilt. Jesus washed me in His blood. In Christ there is no condemnation. 2. What if I am too bad of a sinner? 3. How do I know I am a new creature in Christ? 4. How can God love me if I still struggle with sin? I don t always feel the love, joy and peace of God. Why not? Are they not in me? 5. How can I win the battles against the old self in me?