Foundations 1 Lesson 5 - Who am I in the Kingdom? Riverview Church Term 3, 2017 Page 1 of 5
Introduction When we give over authority of our lives to Jesus and come under his Lordship, life changes for us in many different ways. Part of that change includes the discovery of a new identity. 2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new Creation: The old has gone, the new is here! As followers of Jesus and those connected relationally to God, we begin to discover who we truly are and who God always designed and desired us to be i.e. His plan, purpose and intention for our lives. Our identity as individuals however is inextricably linked to our shared identity as the community of faith which means the answer to the question Who am I? can only be found in the light of the answer to the question Who are we? The Bible uses different images and metaphors to describe this new (true) identity both in relation to God and one another. The Family of God When we put our faith and trust in Jesus we join the family of God. God becomes our Father, Jesus our older brother and fellow believers become brothers and sisters in Christ. Romans 8:15-17 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, Abba, Father. 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Galatians 4:4-7 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God s child; and since you are his child God has made you also an heir. Riverview Church Term 3, 2017 Page 2 of 5
Ephesians 4:18-19 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God s holy people. You are members of God s family. Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Inclusion in the family of God opens the door to intimate friendship and meaningful relationship with the Creator of the Universe and with each other. On the other side of God s strength and power is His tenderness and kindness and these can be experienced in a real and life-changing way when we learn to relate to Him as Father. This in turn frees us to love our fellow believers as siblings with the same love we receive from our Heavenly dad. The Servants of God When we explored the subject of the new Kingdom we introduced you to the concept of royal priests. Every believer is both a priest and a king (1 Peter 2:9) as well as a representative of the kingdom of God on earth i.e. an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). As such we are God s bondservants. 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus sake. Exodus 21:5-6 If the servant declares, I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free, then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life. A Bondservant in biblical times was a servant-for-life by choice. Paul recognised his right to live autonomously from God and out from under the rule of God but concluded that life in the service of Lord Jesus was better than life free from it. He therefore chose to be God s servant for life and so do we when we surrender to the Lordship of Christ. Riverview Church Term 3, 2017 Page 3 of 5
This life-long commitment to serving God is not limited to our time on earth in the present age. It will continue on into the age to come when we receive the new heavens and the new earth: Revelation 1:4-6 Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. The Temple of God God s desire from the very beginning was always to be with His creation, especially His people. In times past God would occupy buildings of brick and stone or tents of fabric and cloth in order to make this possible. However, since the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God has now chosen to make our hearts and our lives His home and to live not only with us but in us. 1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Riverview Church Term 3, 2017 Page 4 of 5
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. As God s new living temple we can enjoy the assurance of God s nearness and presence every day and have communion and fellowship with Him through His Spirit in us. As part of this new sacred house we also need to recognise the need to care for it and keep it set apart for God (sanctified). Conclusion The Bible uses many other descriptors to highlight the new creation realities that mark our lives as followers of Jesus. For instance, we are called to be agents of transformational change (salt and light); obedient and mission-focussed (soldiers); disciplined and goalorientated (athletes); discernibly different (lambs among wolves); etc. The Christian life is a journey of continuous discovery in which we learn about and experience our new and true identity in Jesus. During our final session together we are going to continue the journey of discovery and explore the 7 dimensions of salvation : Revelation, Forgiveness, Redemption, Justification, Sanctification, Regeneration and Glorification. Together they represent what God has essentially done for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Reflection Questions 1. Have you ever thought of God as father before? What thoughts or feelings does the idea of God as father bring up for you? 2. As a servant of God what kinds of attitudes and actions should we display in order to serve God and others well? 3. As a part of God s new living temple what can (or should) we do to acknowledge and accommodate God s presence in us? Memory Verse 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 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. Riverview Church Term 3, 2017 Page 5 of 5