Who Are You?

Scripture: Colossians 1:1-14; Psalm 82

Title: Who Are You?

In this passage we learn three things about who we are – 1. We are People in Christ Jesus 2. We are People of Love 3. We are People of Hope

INTRO:

Grace and Peace in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

I want to talk to you today about your identity. I want to talk to you today about who you can be in this life and in the life to come.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the congregation at Colossae. In this first chapter he takes great pains in sharing with them some things surrounding their new identity in Christ Jesus. He wants them to understand that they are no longer the same people they were before they accepted Jesus as Savior and LORD. He wants them to relish in their new identity.

+What then was this new identity – this identity in Christ Jesus.

+Can we have the same or similar identity even though we are some 2,000 years removed from one another?

+Could Paul’s words to them be applicable to us this morning?

+Is that what we are to understand as we read his opening words to this congregation?

I think that it is.

I think that as we read Paul’s words, we are to understand that what the Apostle Paul says to this church is the same thing that he would say to our church this morning. I believe we are to relish in our own identity in Christ Jesus as much as those who read these words for the first time relished in their new identity in Christ Jesus.

Let’s look at what Paul has to share:

I. Our identity is to be entirely focused in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone

Who we are this morning is determined by the relationship that we have with Christ Jesus. That is what the Apostle Paul told the congregation at Colossae, and I believe it is what he would also tell us this morning.

Our identity is not determined by our intelligence. It is not determined by our heritage – our ancestry. It is not determined by our present location. It is not determined by how much or how little we have in the bank, in our retirement accounts or in our real estate assets. It is not even determined by our gender or our race.

All of those are important. At least that is what the world keeps telling us repeatedly. The world focuses on those things – intelligence, heritage, race, gender, location, materialism etc…

However, according to the Apostle Paul, the most important thing in our lives revolves around our relationship in Christ Jesus.

As an important side note; the Apostle would also remind us that our identity should not even be based on our own personal righteousness or how much we know or adhere to certain religious rituals and regulations.

The Prophet Isaiah of old would have agreed. Listen to what Isaiah writes about such matters:

Isaiah 64:6

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins weep us away.”

Tough but true words.

Neither Isaiah nor Paul would of course discount our own walk of righteousness but they would simply remind us that we are not to be wrapped up in our own self-righteousness. They would want to remind us that our identity is to be in Christ Jesus and not in ourselves or in anything else be that our own righteousness or ability to adhere to certain religious rules or rituals.

Now, we in the established Church tend to overemphasis such things as personal righteousness, religious rules and rituals. After all, we have books of worship and manuals devoted to such things. We want to make sure that people know how they are to look, how they are to act and live. We tend to focus a great deal of our time on what a person is supposed to know about the LORD, His Word and the Church.

Again, all of that is of importance. It is just not the most important thing.

What is most important centers solely on Christ Jesus.

It centers on the relationship that we have in Christ Jesus.

It focuses on our faith in Christ Jesus.

Today, it is vital that we believe in Jesus being who we state that He is every Sunday morning when we recite the Apostle’s Creed:

“In Jesus Christ, His Only Son our LORD:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary, suffering under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty;