1213. The Believer’s Identity

Welcome to The Daily Platform or program preacher's sermons from travel services Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Every day students are blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Bible from the University Chapel platform today on The Daily Platform were continuing a study series entitled seeking things above, which is a study of the book of Colossians. This study explores and applies the timeless truth that Christ is our sufficiency in all relationships, responsibilities and circumstances.

If you would like to follow along in the study booklet you can order a printed copy from the Bob Jones store website shop.BTU.edu. Let's listen to today's message from chapter 3 verses one through four, which includes the title for our series, seek those things which are above today's message is titled the believer's identity masking take your Bibles and turn with me if you will please to the book of Colossians Colossians chapter 3, we are now in our third message on this study is were working through Colossians is a part of RD groups a few years ago I checked one of the usage of one of my credit cards and I discovered that it had been charged a number of times that a few Walmarts in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Now since I've never been the Jacksonville, Arkansas. I realize we have a problem. So I called the credit card company and the police station in Jacksonville and quickly discovered that I had become a victim of one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century and that's called identity theft where the book of Colossians was written to deal with the crisis of identity theft in the in the church there in Colossae. What happened is certain teachers to come into the church and they were attempting to rob the believers of their identity in Christ. And so Paul writes this letter to deal with first century spiritual identity theft and here was the scenario, this certain group of teachers came to the church with the message and the message was that the gospel that they had received from a path for us was sufficient enough to save them. In other words, it could get them in the habit. However, it was not sufficient enough to spiritually mature them they needed something more they could not reach their full potential spiritually on the basis of the simple gospel message they needed Jesus plus and so the teachers promise that their message would give them an experience of a fuller spiritual life and a greater freedom from sin and I think if we look back, even on the messages of last week.

As we talked about sanctification. At the end of the week. It should have been and are all of our hearts that we want to be closer to God and we want to overcome the struggles of our own sin nature that's a part of spiritual growth.

However, the problem was the emphasis in the church of Colossae and that is, they would have to do other things like seeking mystical areas experiences following certain rules and regulations, perhaps giving starting to live a very strict ascetic lifestyle. Would you would deny yourself of some of your bodily appetites and the problem is that the message that was being preached was not true and the false teachers could not leave them into a greater knowledge and freedom.

But in reality it would leave them into ignorance in bondage. So Paul writes this letter to a group of people that he's never met any emphatically asserts that the gospel that they had received was an all sufficient message and that Jesus isn't all sufficient Savior and they are complete EN Christ and what is this point what is this challenge. Don't let these spiritual thieves rob you of your identity as a man or as a woman in Christ.

So we come to chapter 3 and it is here that we have one of the most important statements in the entire Bible concerning our identity with Jesus Christ and let's read Colossians 3 verses 1 to 4 and this morning we will see from three perspectives.

He says if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sit it on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above and not on things of the earth why you are dead in your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our lives shall appear, then shall you also appear with him. What is Paul doing he is showing the believers identity that is found in Jesus Christ. Your identity is who you are here is who we are in Christ, and we see this identity from three perspectives number one. He shows us how believers are identified with Christ's past. Look at what he says if you're risen with Christ, seek the things are above why he says in verse three for your dad in your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our lives shall appear, then show you also appear with him in glory. What is Paul doing he is connecting believers to the two main events of Christ's life. His death and his resurrection, and here's what Paul is doing he is pressing this connection home by using the preposition with you a risen with Christ, you are kid with Christ and with has the idea of coming together at togetherness. Probably I saw this so clearly on Saturday when I went to the inaugural game of our Bruins baseball team as they played against Montreat College on Tony what I told our baseball players we don't pay you for playing. But we sure make you look good man, those guys were like they had like the coolish uniforms, coolish baseball tickets.

I mean I mean note, you look good you eat good and you sleep good. That's what you get from the Bruins and you know what I really really loved.

I really loved it when they all came together sort of in this massive plot huddle 21 of them and they were, you know you know your basic males man. They were like, you know, making all kinds of noises and and and they were all together and then they went out on the field.

The nine starters playing together. That's the idea of the word with and what Paul is saying is first of all, we are so connected to Christ that we have actually died for our sins. Let me say that again so is really clear. We are so connected to Christ that we have actually died for our sins. Listen to Romans six, what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin and live any longer therein. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. What Paul is saying is that we actually have already died.

If you ever seen the movie the Wizard of Oz. I remember watching it as a kid in the movie has Dorothy in her house when what happens.

A tornado picks it up and it falls eventually in the land of Oz and it also lands on the wicked witch of the East killing her. And of course all the munchkins from munchkins land comes out and they sing the great hymn of the faith. Ding dong the witch. It wicked witch is dead.

Well, the mayor and the law here in the corner of munchkin land come out and they confirm her death by the following conversation as mayor of the munchkin city in the county of the land of Oz welcome you most regally, but we've got to verify legally to see to see if she if she is morally and ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably and reliably. Dad as corner.

I must of error I thoroughly examined her and she's not only merely dead. She's really most sincerely dad and then the mayor says this then is a day of independence for all the munchkins and their descendents.

Let the joyous news we spread the wicked old which at last is dead at the moment you and I believe we were so connected to Christ through God's work that we actually died for our sin. Would you think about that.

You don't have to pay for your sins because you already did. You don't have to live with a sense of guilt and condemnation because the guilt and the condemnation has already been satisfied to Jesus is death on the cross and as a result of that union.

I no longer bear any guilt for my sin, because I've already paid for what I done. I have already died for my sin with Christ nowise is crucial, because Paul's message contrasted the false teachers who were trying to literally kidnap Christians and bring them into a man-made works based religion that focuses on what a believer must do in order to experience spiritual life in its victory over sin and the problem is that human self effort can never free you from sin. The only thing that can deliver you from sin is you have to die. And this is what Paul is saying that we have literally died with Christ, then secondly, if we died with him. What happened were so connected with to Christ that we actually have been resurrected with him at the moment of your union, the Christ you were raised from the dead give you then be risen with Christ and what was the result. What did God do in your heart you made you a new creation. Colossians 212. You are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God ever had an operation. I had an operation. 12 weeks ago this coming Friday I went into surgery and they rolled me entered into the us the operating room.

As soon as I went in and I knew I was in a different room than what I've been staying in and they rolled me yeah and so my nature. I just start asking questions and the nurses of the people that were working in there. They were of a different spirit than the nurses. Omaha, they were like they were like down to business and so I started asking all kind of questions and maybe if I think back about it. Maybe they got tired of asking questions because they said were to put this mask of your face and that's all I remember that was 730 in the morning I woke up at 130 in the afternoon and what they called the recovery room. It's just like you know this.

This flat thing you're laying on and I mean you're just laying there and I wake up and I knew something had happened.

I go through surgery. Do you realize that when you get saved you actually go through an operation. What is the operation you were literally risen from the dead, and a new life has been imparted unto you. You have become a new person in Christ.

No wonder Paul prayed for the Ephesians to understand the immense power they had in Christ. Listen to what he says in Ephesians 119 that we would know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to support the belief according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

When you got saved you experienced a resurrection, that is exactly like the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

That's why every Christian is a miracle where a new creation. So here's what Paul is saying you have died your old life is over. You are now alive you are now being animated by resurrection power. This is who you are.

This is your identity and don't let anyone rob you of this identity then secondly he says believers are not only identified with Christ with Christ past, but believers are identified with Christ in his present listen to what he says in verse four for you or dad your life is hidden with Christ in God.

What is our current identity today as believers. Actually, we are hidden. The word hidden the here is the is the is the Greek word crypto it's it's the word we get from in encrypted it's written in the perfect tense that is it something this happened at a point in time, but it presently affects me right now. In other words, when you and I got saved.

We were in encrypted in Christ and there is something that is hidden at this very moment in the idea of the word encrypt means to convert a message into a code back during World War II. World War II the Japanese were regularly intercepting and decoding American military messages so the United states needed an unbreakable code.

So what are they do, they chose 29 Navajo Indians living on their ancestral lands to come and be what they call code talkers and that is they would communicate back and forth in the Navajo language in the Navajo laying what language was such a that was of such a nature that the code was never broken and the Japanese. I ended that ended up working against them as they one vital battles. Major battles in the Pacific.

So here's what Paul is saying our life is in encrypted in Christ. What is that mean it means that where hidden, just like Jesus. I mean think about it is Jesus not hidden today. I mean who is seen Jesus now had people tell me they saw Jesus about know you ate too many hotdogs with the with the onions on when you before you went to bed at night you and sieges, but one day he is going to be unveiled.

He's going to be revealed. That's what the last book of the Bible is about the revelation of Christ, the apocalypses, the unveiling of and just like Jesus was hidden so we are hidden when Jesus resurrected from the dead, who saw Jesus in his resurrected body who saw him.

It was only the disciples with the next one verse one until the day he was taken up, after he had given commands of the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented them himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during the 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them to not depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father and when he had said these things as they were looking out, he was lifted up in a cloud took him out of their sight only the disciples saw him. Jesus ascended into heaven, sat down at the father's right hand today. He presently rules over everything from a position of power and preeminence. Yet it is hidden to the world. The world is blinded to Jesus, but he is not blinded to us. We see him who is invisible and our life is hidden with Christ in God is key is hidden. What is that mean it means the world is incapable of seeing who we are. They don't understand us. I remember when I got saved it in a secular college and I began to share the gospel and I just thought that everybody would believe what I was telling them because it was so wonderful, Jesus died for your sins, your center, you can spend eternity with God and Kaman but eyes as I began to share the gospel. I found instead of receiving it.

Not only did they reject it they rejected me.

Then I found out that they would begin to make fun of me like I was a Jesus freak or something like that and suddenly I began to experience what Paul says we all experience as believers and that is our identity is kid with Christ in God were like Joseph in the Old Testament who suffered at the hands of his envious brothers and later His identity hidden from his brothers until he revealed himself to them at the appropriate time. The world cannot see what is happened in us.

They can't see the resurrection in us, nor can the world perceive what is going to happen to us.

They may think that we are awed strange and deluded but brothers and sisters in Christ. It is no dream. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So, as believers, how do we live our lives we live our lives with the says that the where hidden with Christ in God. Our identity is found in him, so let me ask you question this morning. What defines you as a person. Where do you find your identity during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the American gold medal winners in men's peer diving were 2000 steel Johnson and David Padilla with a TV reporter asked Steele about his reaction after winning a place in the US Olympics. He answered I've been working for this dream for a long time. He said I honestly never thought the day would come, and I just blinked and now I'm alone in that. I moment the 2016 Olympic team.

He said is cool because this is exciting. This is fun but it's not what my identity is going to be the rest of my life. And then he made a statement and I remember hearing him make the statement as like he dropped a hammer on the floor. He said yeah I'm steel Johnson the Olympian, but at the same time. I'm here to love and serve Jesus Christ because my identity who I am as a person is rooted in Jesus Christ. What ultimate security. Where do you see for identity is in something that can be taken away. Is it found in your appearance, you know, let me assure you you're the best looking time of your life. For some of you that scary.

Physically, you're probably in the best shape more or less say more or less you're going to be in the rest of your life. If your identity is maintaining the way you look today for the rest of your life. You all have a rude awakening is your identity and your abilities in your accomplishments or your achievements is your identity found in your approval rating or your acceptance from people or from peers does your past define you do your failures define you.

Where is your identity. Insecurity is putting your trust in something or in someone that can be taken away ultimate security for the believer is found in Christ.

We are hidden in him accepted in the beloved. And one day the world will discover who the real believers are because that leads me to my last and that is the believers are identified with Christ in the future. Verse four when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then show you also will appear with him in glory when Jesus comes back, the world's attention will be captivated by the magnificence of his person and by the brilliance of his glory. They will recognize Jesus is Lord.

He will come as a mighty conqueror riding the back of a white horse with eyes of flaming fire and ahead with many crowns and with him will be the whole church radiating with his glory and the world will see us as believers who, for who we really are. They will see the power that energized our lives and they will understand the values that motivated our suddenly dawned on them who it really is who Christ is and who believers are, they will see why we live the way that we did and they will see how we lived as we did in the present, Christ may be belittled and rejected, and likewise believers will be misunderstood and persecuted maligned and rejected.

But if we suffer with him now when he returns, we will reign with him.

So as believers in our lab identity we are connected to Christ, we are concealed in Christ and one day we will be revealed in Christ and therefore what should we do, we should adjust our own self perception. That's like one of the hardest things that we should do exactly what Paul said we should seek the things that are above because what you can't see is actually what's real and what you can see is actually in a sense not real and that it will one day pass away.

So what should we build our lives on the things that are eternal. There only three things that are eternal God's word in the souls of men and everything that God does will be eternal where the bills and eternal city or an eternal new heaven and a new earth, but those are the things that we find our identity and I security and and what is this do for us at the end of our life. It gives us a sense of stability and strength so that even facing death. We can live without fear because we know in whom we are that we are in Christ, father, thank you for your word IQ that our identity is found in Jesus, thank you that you love us, Lord, and help us to continue to recognize who we are in Christ. In Jesus name, amen. You been listening to a sermon from the study series in the book of Colossians by Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University. For more information on Dr. Pettit series, visit the Bob Jones University store website shopping.BJ you.edu where you can get a copy of Steve's study booklet entitled seeking things above, that's SHOP.BJ you.you I'm Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. I like to invite you to attend one of our summer camps for both middle and high schoolers.

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