Finding Our Identity In Christ

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”  He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:19 – 23).

Do you know who you are?

One vital question every human being needs to answer is the question of their identity. The question “Who are you?” does not merely enquire about our names, what we do, etc., but also deeper questions, such as, “Why do I exist? What are we here for?”.

From the above passage, the same question was raised to John The Baptist, and as we would have noticed, he did not mention his name, but his identity and purpose in this life. He knows what he was created for. Working in an Australian environment, I have learnt one phrase that is used a lot: “Clear as mud”. It is used after my boss/colleague explains something to me. In this article, I want to use the same phrase, but replace “mud” with John The Baptist to ask us the question: Are we as clear as John The Baptist about our purpose in this life? When we are not clear about our life’s purpose, we will certainly waste our life. A wasted life is a life that does not accomplish its purposes.

Only God can give us our true identity

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). (John 1:42).

From the above verse, we see that Jesus gave Simon Peter his true identity. Cephas is a Hebrew word for stone. It is only God who can give us purpose in this life as He is our Creator. If we read chapter 1 of the gospel of John, then we would know that it was the first time Jesus met Peter. But Jesus already knew what Peter would become, how He would use Peter to build His church (Matthew 16:18), how Peter would strengthen his brothers after he had turned again (Luke 22:32), and how Peter’s death glorified God (John 21:19).

Out of all our families and friends, God knows us intimately. Psalm 139:2 – 4 says: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.”.

Every gadget in this world is not created without a purpose. Their purposes exist before they were created. Indeed, God had prepared our purpose before we were born: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:16).

If we do not ask God about our purpose in life, this world is going to give it to us.  The good life that is offered by this world is best illustrated in Luke 12:16 – 19: “And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ “.

Every day the media bombards us with the good life that this world offers, and if we do not renew our mind everyday with God’s word, we will be caught up in the race for the good life offered by this world. The Bible says that, “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. “ (1 John 2:17). We will definitely waste our life when we pursue the things of this world.

What The Bible Says About Us

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. “ (1 Peter 2:9).

Chosen Race

The Chosen Race is not talking about a specific race, such as black or white, but every one that had been redeemed by the Blood of Christ. We all start by Grace, we are chosen by God not because of our merit, but because of Christ. That is why Jesus said in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you“.

When I was in high school back in Indonesia, I used to feel pretty good when I was chosen to represent the school in a science competition, though I did not win. How do we feel to be chosen by the Creator of the Universe? We need to pray for our spiritual eyes to be enlightened if we do not get excited about this truth.

Royal Priesthood

After we have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ, we have immediate access to God – we do not need another human priest as a mediator.  John Piper said in his article “Christian Identity and Christian Destiny”:

God himself provided the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. You have direct access to God, through God. And, second, you have an exalted, active role in God’s presence. You are not chosen, pitied, possessed, and holy just to fritter away your time doing nothing. You are called now to minister in the presence of God. All your life is priestly service. You are never out of God’s presence. You are never in a neutral zone. You are always in the court of the temple. And your life is either a spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1-2), or it is out of character.

Holy Nation

After we have been redeemed by God, we are not our own anymore (1 Cor 6:19). Our lives are set apart for Him, and He will sanctify us. We exist for Him.

God’s Own Possession

Once again, we are His because we have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ. We are the ones God aims to spend eternity with (John Piper).

If we know how to guard our possession  carefully, how much more God will guard His own possession? If we are His own Possession, we need not worry about our lives, because He cares for us, He will guard our lives. Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:38 – 39: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What Are We Here For?

As mentioned earlier, we are not redeemed to do nothing, and Peter does not stop at giving us our identity, but he also gave us our purpose in verse 9b: “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. “.

As Christians, we exist to proclaim His excellencies: “The excellencies of His freedom in choosing us. The excellencies of His grace in pitying us. The excellencies of His authority and power in possessing us. The excellencies of His worth and purity in making us holy. In other words, He has given us identity that His identity might be proclaimed through us. God made us who we are so we could make known who He is. Our identity is for the sake of making known his identity. The meaning of our identity is that the excellency of God be seen in us. ” (John Piper).

Proclaiming His excellencies can take many forms. We can do it through our worship at church services, life testimonies at our COOLs, our workplace/campuses, or when we study/work hard wholeheartedly, doing everything as we do it for the Lord and not men (Colossians 3:23).

As this year is the year of the Great Commission, my prayer is that there will be more of Jesus and less of ourselves,  so that people might see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). Let’s shout His fame!

References for Further Reading

Christian Identity and Christian Destiny By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org. URL: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1994/871_Christian_Identity_and_Christian_Destiny/