IDENTITY

We look to Jesus alone for identity. We believe that we are who God says we are, and we are engaged in the life-long process of identifying and replacing any contradicting beliefs with His truth. We live, love and see the world through the lens of our true identity as God’s image bearers and children. (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 2:10, Genesis 1:27 John 1:12)

Two Fundamental Questions of Identity: Who am I? What gives me value as a person?

Three Statements on Christian Identity:

1.

Genesis 1:27

Psalm 139:13-16

Ephesians 2:4-10

We are completely forgiven: All of our sins have been completely, utterly, and permanently forgiven. Our sins are not simply forgotten, ignored, minimized, or excused. There is literally nothing left to pay for because our sin has been fully atoned for through Christ’s death on the cross

Christ’s own righteousness now belongs to us: From the moment Christians first believe, we are granted the same complete, total, and perfect righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ. Though growth in maturity is a characteristic of healthy faith, you cannot be any more right with God than you are right now.

We are God’s children: Through Christ, we are adopted into God’s family as his beloved daughters and sons. We can know that we have a Dad in heaven who loves us with the same unbridled delight that he has for his own Son, because we now stand before him with the same spotless record and perfect righteousness that belongs to Jesus.

God loves us unconditionally: There is nothing we can do that will ever make God love us any more, or any less, than he already does. Even in the midst of our pain and brokenness, even in moments when we fail and rebel against God - God still loves us completely. We didn’t earn His love by our performance, and we can’t lose it or lessen it by our performance either.

Sin’s power over us is broken and Christ’s power in our lives is unleashed: Through the cross and empty grave, the power of sin over us has been decisively shattered. We are no longer slaves to our idols and unbelief. The power of Christ’s resurrection is at work in and through believers to make us more and more conformed to Christ.

The Holy Spirit lives in us: God himself, in the third member of the Trinity, resides within us and powerfully applies the benefits of Christ’s work to change our hearts and minds. The Holy Spirit makes us sufficient for every challenge, temptation, and opportunity that we will ever encounter. Our task is to cooperate with what He desires to do inside of us.

(Serge, “Gospel Identity”)