Title: Finding Your Identity
Text: Colossians 2:6-7
Thesis: It is not so much that we find or create our identity but that we receive it… from God.
Introduction:
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France has proposed a decree that would ban anyone from wearing religious symbols of any kind. The decree is aimed particularly at forbidding Muslim women from wearing their traditional burqa with a full-faced veil. However the decree is broad enough that it would ban any religious symbol.
President Sarkozy’s contention is that the French people are being divided by a myriad of diverse religious expressions and therefore can no longer focus on their common identity as the people of France. Homiletics Magazine puts it, “The emphasis should be on being French first, secular second and religious a distant third, at best (but probably not at all).” The idea is that the powers that be in France want the people of France to rally around the flag… the nation being the unifying factor rather than the divisiveness of individual religious preferences. (Homiletics, July 2010, P. 31)
In the July 26, 2010 issue of Time magazine I read that there are an estimated 5 million Muslims living in France and of those 5 million, 2,000 wear the full-face Islamic burqa veil. In a country of 65, 447,324 people, 2,000 does not seem to be very many. However, on July 13 the National Assembly passed a draft law declaring that “no one can, in the public space, wear clothing intended to hide the face.” (Bobby Ghosh, The Moment, Time Magazine, July 26, 2010, p. 11)
The French are wondering what it means to be French.
The bible acknowledges the reality of the existence of our many and varied identities. The inference is that our varied identities can serve to define us and even divide us. So God’s answer to our dissimilarities is to focus on our single similarity… our identity in Christ.
Paul wrote, “You are all Children of God through faith in Christ Jesus… there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28
Similarly in Colossians he wrote, “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all.” Colossians 3:11
Race and ethnicity can be divisive. Socio-economic status can be divisive. Gender can be divisive. Politics can be divisive. Nationalism can be divisive. Religion can be divisive. If, as a Christians, our respective identities are rooted in race or in socio-economic status or in gender or in political affiliation or love for country or religious practice… we are people at odds with each other. God’s will is that despite the many things that distinguish us and can potentially divide us, we all find our identity in Christ.
Our text today begins with these words: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him…”
That means that we all live our lives conscious or aware of the presence of Christ in our lives. All our distinctive take a lesser role. Our lives are not defined by our wealth or poverty, our maleness or our femaleness, our race or our ethnicity and so on. We are in Christ and Christ is in us and it is our identity in Christ that defines who we are and how we think and what we do.
That’s why it is important that we find our identity in Christ who is all and is in all. That is why we are urged to continue to live in Christ by being rooted in Christ.
I. Rooted in Christ
As you have received Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted… in him. Colossians 2:6-7
The first picture we have is that of a tree that is rooted deeply in the soil. Just as a tree draws its nourishment from the soil, so we draw our nourishment and strength from Christ.
We generally think of ourselves as being rooted in a place.
Remember the man named Jed, who barely kept his family fed. And then one day he out hunting for some food and up from the ground came a bubbling crude… oil that is. So ole Jed became a millionaire. He loaded up his old truck with all his earthly possessions, Granny, his daughter Ellie Mae and his nephew Jethrow and they moved to Beverly Hills, CA. Despite their posh new community and their beautiful new home and the cement pond their Tennessee roots continued to affect every aspect of their lives… the way they treated people, the kind of food they ate, their attitude toward money and possessions. Jed was firmly rooted in the hills of Tennessee and those roots gave him stability in the Hills of Beverly.
In the same way we create stability in our lives by placing our roots in Christ. And when we are rooted in Christ, Christ will influence our values and our priorities.
Beyond being rooted we are to further secure our identity in Christ by being built up in Christ.
II. Built up in Christ
As you have received Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him. Colossians 2:6-7
The second picture is of a house that is built on a strong foundation. Just as the house built on a strong foundation stands strong against any storm, the person who is built up in Christ can stand strong through any storm.
It has been six months since the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti. The landscape is still strewn with ruins of homes and businesses. Many of Haiti’s newer concrete structures collapsed, but there are some remarkable exceptions. The gingerbread houses stand remarkable intact. The gingerbread houses were built during a more prosperous time in Haiti… the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. Almost all of these houses are over 100 years old but very few collapsed when the earthquake struck. They look to us like run-down old Victorians with intricate latticework and shiplap siding and they are colorfully painted in keeping with the Haitian culture but they are still standing.
Architectural teams who are overseeing the rebuilding of Haiti see these old wooden homes as models for reconstructing the country. The project manager in charge of designing post-earthquake housing said, “The gingerbread houses are proof that if you build a wooden structure well, it’s a simpler way to make something that can withstand nature’s wrath.” (Postcard: Port-au-Prince, Rediscovering Haiti’s gingerbread houses, Kathleen Klarreich, Time, July 26, 2010, p. 6)
Of course this is not new news to us. As he was wrapping up his Sermon on the Mount Jesus told the story about two men: One man built his house on the sand and the other on a strong foundation. And when the storm came the house built on the sand collapsed while the house on the firm foundation withstood the flood. Then he said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” Matthew 7:24-27
Our identity in Christ is reinforced when well built lives are built on the firm foundation of God’s Word.
Third, our identity is further secured as we are strengthened in the faith.
III. Strengthened in the faith
As you have received Christ as Lord, co
ntinue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught… Colossians 2:6-7
We are strengthened in the faith as we hold fast to the teachings of Christ and God’s Word.
I grew up on Popeye… Popeye was a scruffy little sailor man. He was not into fitness and was not a strong man. But when Brutus was giving him a good thrashing he would reach into his pocket for his can of spinach. Spinach was the key to Popeye’s strength. Once he had swallowed that can of spinach he became a whirling dervish of energy and the muscles in his arms rippled and his fists exploded with power sending Brutus flying through the air.
In chapter 3 of Colossians Paul wrote, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and let the Word of Chris dwell in you richly…”
When Eugene Peterson titled one of his books “Eat This Book” he wanted his readers to see the Word of God as food to be eaten and digested for nourishment and for inner strength. Let the Word of Christ live in you richly… eat it, digest it, and live in its power.
And the outcome of settling into our identity in Christ is a spirit of gratitude.
IV. Overflowing with gratitude
As you have received Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7
In his commentary on Colossians, William Barclay cites the teaching of Epictetus, who though not a Christian, was a great moral teacher and captures the essence of the intent of this passage.
He wrote, “What else can I, a lame old man, do but sing hymns to God? If I were a nightingale, I would be singing as a nightingale; if a swan, as a swan. But as it is, I am a rational being. Therefore I must be singing hymns of praise to God. This is my task; I do it, and will not desert this post…” Epictetus, Discourses 1.16.21)
The person rooted and built up in Christ and who hold fast to God’s word will always sing praise to God.
Conclusion:
We often speak of living for Christ which is a purposeful expression of what we do. But we seldom speak of living in Christ, which is more of a positional expression of who we are. Who we are or our identity is not something that we need to go about finding or creating… our identity is something we have received.
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and over flowing with thankfulness.”
