Living Out Our Identity In Christ, How do we do this?

This topic is under the theme identity, you can find part one here.

A brief recap from the last teaching, we focussed on the title “What Is Our Identity?” and we used both Colossians chapter 1-2 to explore this. Today, we shall be exploring the practical steps to living and being transformed into the image of Christ with the help of Colossians 3:1-17.

Let's start with a prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word which is a lamp unto our feet and illuminates our path, will you please breathe upon whoever is reading this and give a fresh revelation on who you are. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for guiding us into all truths, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Colossians 3:1-2 starts off by saying "[1] Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things". (To put simply, this means to align your heart along with your mind on the person of Christ).

The wording since and then are words connected to time; this chapter is a continuation of the previous chapter which speaks about the asceticism going on among the believers in Colossae. Asceticism is where holiness is acquired through severe self-discipline, self-denial, the renunciation of pleasures, or austere religiosity; it can also be a mixture of legalism and mysticism – this is chasing feelings and Paul talk about these things in which the believers at Colossae were putting a huge focus on, the list includes:

emphasis on dreams,
worship of angels,
visions,
feelings, and one's personal experience of the spiritual realm rather than on Christ. Found in Colossians 2:16-23.

We must understand that God can speak through dreams and visions but the constant chase of it rather than focusing on the Word of God is another religion. The Word of God is concrete to how we understand him, if the revelation we receive does not match up with the Word of God (about his attributes), then it's false. I believe this is the reason why Paul spends a lot of time in Colossians Chapter 2, reminding believers in Colossae including us, to gain knowledge and this comes with the understanding of the person of Christ and knowing the power of his resurrection. This knowledge must work its way into our hearts therefore allowing us to know God thus having an understanding that everything on earth is fleeting, it is all temporary, the pain, persecution, the riches and indulgence in the flesh. As a result, we must not get too attached down here instead we should ensure our riches are stored in heaven.

Why shouldn't you get too attached and instead think beyond earthly things?

We find the answer in ‭Colossians 3:3-4 ‬"[3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And according to verse [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory". We must understand the moment we committed our lives to Christ; old things passed away and instead a new thing began, and we are a new creation (According to 2 Corinthians 5:17). Our eternity is secured, God has done this for us, we should be aware of this and shouldn't doubt this.

In addition, there is an understanding that God will conform/mould us into the image of Christ (image of perfection, as he is our Role Model/Pioneer of what humanity is meant to be like). In Hebrews 2:9-10 it says "[9]'But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. [10] In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered". The first Adam failed to walk in this, which is why Jesus is regarded as the last Adam who is the life-giving spirit according to 1 Corinthians 15:45.

Because of the conforming to the image of Christ which is done by God; ‭we would be privileged to share in the Glory of Christ, meaning the Glory of God will be revealed fully in us at the day of Christ, this glory is the honour of ruling with Christ. (According to Romans 8:18 which talks about 'consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us').

(Revelation 20:4 says 'I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years'). It is God's will that while we are on this side of eternity, we would be conformed and the result is, more of the Glory of God should be visible in our lives.

How is more of the Glory of God visible in our lives and how do we live out this identity in Christ?

The answer is written in ‭Colossians 3:5-7 "[5] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived". The earthly nature which has been listed, we are meant to consider it dead/put it to death (kill it). When we gave our lives to Christ, these were the ways we used to walk and revel in but no more because these things invoke the wrath of God and Jesus will be judging these things when he comes (Revelation 21:8 says 'But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur'. This is the second death).

It is important to note that the putting to death of these obvious sins (the Christian community have often labelled it "big sins") shouldn’t occur only at Salvation but daily.

Colossians 3:8-10 says "[8] “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. [9] Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”.

We see a move from behaviours which are literally sins, that we ought to put to death to things that we ought to rid of (I call these hindrances, "respectable sins" as it's labelled in the Christian community, the "it’s not a sin but we know it’s"). Both put to death and hindrance sins are bad, if the first is not put to death it leads to the inability to get rid of the ones you ought to rid of. The term rid of can be illustrated as changing one's clothing. If you don't change for a clean one, then you will stink. Therefore, we are to exchange the things we ought to rid of for that of the Spirit’s daily.

I am going to insert ‭Hebrews 12:1 which says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us". Things that can also hinder us from allowing Christ' identity from shining through us or stunts our growth in Christ are fear, doubts, wrong motives in our heart (James 4:3).

I am going to explain the impact of not putting to death some of these sins mentioned in Colossians 3:5-7 daily, not only at the point of salvation; but how it can creep up on us as well as it leading to the inability to get rid of the sins, we ought to rid ourselves of. Let us carefully look at both verses 5 and 8; from verse 5, i want us to zero in on lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry.

Firstly Lust, when we think about the definition of lust, a lot of the time it’s associated in the context of sexual acts. Although we can look at it from that angle, Lust shouldn't be contained in that area alone:

It says in ‭1 John 2:16 "[16] For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world". These are the three categories all sins fall under, and they were the cause of man's downfall. We go all the way back to Genesis 3 (The fall of mankind). Eve recognises the fruit was good for food (lust of the flesh, gratification of flesh) and pleasing to the eye (lust of the eyes) also desirable for gaining wisdom (pride of life) then she ate it and gave her husband thus committing sin (Genesis 3:6). This should be a deeper revelation and an indication that the more you mature in Christ, Lust broadens and can be closely linked to covetousness.

If Lust is not handled correctly, it makes us go into the direction where we fail to see the abundance of the garden just like Eve and instead reach out to that one fruit in which God has not yet placed into our hands or has forbidden.

I will give an example of this, in Numbers 11:4 the Bible describes those who fell to lusting for meat and influenced the Israelites to cry for it as "the rabble (a mob), or some translation say mixed multitude (foreigners who were not Israelites that followed them out of Egypt)". They despised the manna provided by God and set their desires for meat.

Meat was not sinful, but their strong desire for it was, most especially when God had already provided for them. We must remember that in Exodus 16:12 before the first ever provision of Manna due to the Israelites complaints, God provided the meat they craved and then Manna. However, as they went about their journey in the wilderness, their greed took over and led to another complaint for meat and despising Manna.

It was so severe that God gave them over to their desire but 'while the meat was still in between their teeth and on the way to getting chewed, God sent a plague that killed them and the place was named Kibroth-hattaavah (the graves of greediness), because there they buried the people who had been greedy [for more than the manna that God provided them]'. Numbers 11:33-34.

You might ask, what do these illustrations (the one with Eve and the children of Israel) have to do with walking in the identity of Christ? This application for us is, sometimes the things that we strongly desire which are not necessarily bad (just like meat wasn’t); we should be careful that we don’t become lustful for it.

Therefore, whatever it is that you are prone to fall for, you need to be aware of this and give it to God because the enemy knows your weak point, do not underestimate a Devil that has been here long enough and has taken the time to study human behaviour. If we are not careful with these things, it will birth an evil desire (evil desire says "i shall have it by all means" then making plans to get it outside God) and birth greed (Greed says I can't get enough of it and I want more) which is idolatry.

Whatever has birthed your greed becomes your god? So, ask yourselves are there any gods you've made which are currently taking the place of God in your life.

Ask yourself, "what are things if I am not careful of, I can see them controlling me?" i use myself as an example in terms of food, if i find myself spending so much on an item that was meant to be a one off treat then it's ruling me; most especially when my taste buds or brain can't stop thinking about it and i just have to have it till it feels like my self-control is slowly slipping away. This is what bondage looks like.

For others, this might look like uncontrollable spending habits - at the root, this is money being their god, it controls them. Unfortunately, wealth/riches has always seem to take the spot in being the god of majority of the lives of people from age to age.

As believers, we need the Holy Spirit to constantly sift our motives on why we desire something. This is why God often places us in the waiting season, so our motives are sifted to become pure and in alignment to his will. Trust me, we never want God to give us over to the desires that are not sifted by him as our lusts can eventually lead to spiritual death.

Lust can give way to the behaviours we are meant to daily rid ourselves of ‭such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. These are not ways to live in the identity of Christ. On the topic of malice and slander; as Christ followers if you have nothing good to say about a person, be quiet! most especially if they are not there, so we would not be found guilty of slander.

If you have noticed by now, these rid off sins are to do with behaviour; majority of which concerns our speech. James 3 warns us about the danger of the tongue and the importance of keeping ourselves in check.

Now that we have gotten how we ought not to live out of the way, the question then is, how do we not do these things that harms our Christ like identity and fellowship with God?

The answer is through the constant renewing of our minds to the knowledge of Christ who is the truth, so to speak, God's word with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are humans, that do make mistakes and will fall but we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to fall into sinful patterns. We have the Spirit of God in us and according to Romans 6:1-2 which says 'What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?'. Also, when we do sin, the goal is not to stay there or go back there but to repent and move forward.

On the discussion of renewing your mind with God’s word, the more you are in the presence of God, the more light you let into your soul to see these things that hinders. The more you know God, the more you are aware of yourself, and you know your triggers. ‭

1 John 1:5-7 says "[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin".

As Paul moves on to verse 11 saying, the person that unites all believers is Christ not cultural backgrounds or social statuses. This is opposite of what the world holds dearly onto as security for identity. ‭Colossians 3:11 "[11] Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all". We as believers are united under the person of Christ, this means ‭we are God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved. If we are truly these things we must live it out (the fruit should display itself) by clothing ourselves with 'compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience while bearing with one another and forgiving just like God forgave us all; Never forgetting the most important element that makes all these work in perfect unity, love' (Colossians 3:12-14).

Some of these virtues mentioned in verses 12-14 falls under the fruit of the Spirit, which we all have received when we became a follower of Christ; moreover, i see love as the skin of the fruit that ties/covers and preserves them all. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 talks about the basis of love (which in them you see the fruit of the Spirit, if read carefully) and even Colossians 3:12 mentions some of them.

The most important thing is allowing the Holy Spirit to produce his fruit in us; in order to feed others around us and being empowered to conquer sinful nature which in turn fuels our walk in the identity of Christ. Verses 15-17 sees Paul discussing peace to tie the message he currently is conveying about the way we ought to live.

Peace can be delved into three categories; Peace with God (we were once at war with God and fighting him by rejecting his Son, thus we made peace by surrendering to him). Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Secondly, there's the inner peace that comes with trusting God to provide our needs which can be found in Philippians 4:4-7. Thirdly, there's the Colossians 3:15-17, which is called the interpersonal peace (it deals with relationship and communication with others).

We have looked at how behaviours from verses 5-9 will promote hostility with one another as believers if not rid of or put to death.

Colossians 3:11 speaks of the racial and social situations that pitted people against each other in Paul’s day. Even in our time, social and racial topics are often used by the enemy to cause disunity among people in the world including believers. Thereby, I am reinforcing again; the importance of having the knowledge of Christ and allowing the truth of what Christ has done for us to dictate our actions. This means we are to see other believers as family not enemies, nor competitors but being on the same team.

Ultimately, Christ saved us to be at peace with each other. Living out an identity in Christ means choosing to act in love and being at peace with other believers and non-believers, thus allowing Christ’ peace to rule our hearts. With the knowledge of Christ which is the truth, we can be in harmony and lovingly do the things of verse 16 and that is; ‭Colossians 3:16 "Teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts".

The final point is gratitude which is also a common theme in verses 15-17. ‭Colossians 3:15-17 "[15] Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. [16] Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. [17] And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him". One of the most important act we must practice when living out the identity of Christ is never forgetting to give gratitude to God. Gratitude to God allows him to do a great work in our lives (he truly transforms us from within) and in turn, it shapes the relationships around us.

Gratitude allows us to see the faithfulness of God. It causes our hearts to remain tender towards him and towards anything spiritual. ‭Romans 1:21 describes the consequences of not being thankful to God and relates this to unbelievers which is applicable to believers as well. It says, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened". Having something to thank God for, reminds us of who he is even in our darkest days.

If you do not show appreciation to someone that you love then you might just start to develop a sense of entitlement to the things they do out of their love for you. This borders pride and God resists the proud. Thanksgiving comes from a place of humility and an awareness that we are utterly reliant/dependent on God, and we do not bring anything to the table. At times our flesh wages war with our spirit; when it comes to giving thanks to the Lord, let us put it to death and always remember to give thanks to the Lord at all times and in every circumstances.

We should imitate the Apostle Paul who wrote this letter in jail as he himself still gave thanks to the Lord. ‭Colossians 4:2-3 '[2] Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. [3] And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

I pray you take your time to digest all this revelation. You can find the next topic here.