Applications from Ephesians: Believing God about Our Identity

“For the last few months, Pastor Brandon has been leading us through the ways we are to find and rest in our God-given identity according to the book of Ephesians”

To the world, identities are both flexible and rigid in paradoxical ways. On the one hand, you can change your identity at will as it concerns your interests, your vibe, your sexuality, or your style. No one can label you. Only you have a say in who you are. First of all, this isn’t supported by science, because we know that so much of who we are has to do with our biological heritage as well as our upbringing (nature vs. nurture). This is also an incredibly western mindset, where the world revolves around the individual and the collective is thrown out the door.

On the other hand, once the world has labeled you a certain way, good luck getting rid of it. You can make your own identity until you go against the status quo (for good or bad), and then you are stuck with your society-given, stigmatized identity. The world is increasingly calling good evil and labeling biblical views as wrong, but that’s not even most of what I’m talking about. There is no grace in the world. There’s no redemption. If someone sins (think of celebrities or politicians), then they are forever a sinner and there is nothing else they could ever be. Granted, if someone never turns to Christ, that is sadly true. But there is nevertheless no grace in the world, and it is a wonder that so many Christians (myself included) turn there to form their identity.

For the last few months, Pastor Brandon has been leading us through the ways we are to find and rest in our God-given identity according to the book of Ephesians. We recently finished the first three chapters, which are all about our position in Christ (the last three chapters will be about our practice in Christ). There were three overarching themes that stood out to me in this first half of the book.

Our identity is founded in God’s promises

In Ephesians chapter one, we learned about all of the things God says are true about those who place their faith in Christ for salvation. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings. Chosen. Predestined for adoption. Redeemed. Forgiven. Sealed. We have been given a future inheritance of unimaginable glory, and that future inheritance should affect how we live today.

God tells us that we will one day stand before him holy, accepted, and without blame. We ought to choose to live holy lives, choose to live in an acceptable way, and live blamelessly now. Why?

2 Corinthians 5:8-10 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

One reason we tend not to live as if we’re going to appear before Christ’s judgment seat is because, instead of looking ahead, we tend to identify with our past and let it define and distract us. Do you believe that Christ has forgiven all your trespasses, or is your identity shaped by your shame? The world says to feel no shame for who you are, and yet imposes shame on whomever they see fit. But in Christ, old things are passed away, and all things are become new (2 Cor 5:17 – the same passage that talks about the judgment seat, interestingly enough). This gives us the ability to look forward to the day we meet Christ in hope, rather than in shame.

Forgetfulness of what God has done is a serious problem, and one that the Bible talks about over and over again. When we forget what God has done for and said about us, we begin to lose track of truth and make up our own narratives — or let the world impose theirs. Rather than trusting in such fleeting things as our emotions or the world’s whims, we must stake our heart on God’s promises about who we are and what he will do. Our feelings change. The world’s opinions change. But God’s word never changes.

Pray, like Paul, that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened so that you can have full assurance in the hope of Christ’s calling on your life, your future inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his power toward you (Eph 1:16-19).

Our identity is founded in our redemption

As important as it is for us to look forward to our future hope and not identify with our past sins, it’s also necessary for us to remember where we came from. In chapter two of Ephesians, Paul serves up a good news/bad news sandwich. He tells the believers in Ephesus: God has made you alive. You used to be lost in your sins and the ways of this world. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (Eph 2:1-4).

We do need to remember what God saved us from, but we need to make sure that it’s all in the context of the new life we have in Christ. Rather than obsessing over all our failures, we need to visit the grave of our sin (for it is indeed dead) and thank our redeemer for changing what could have been. If God doesn’t remember your sins (Jer 31:34, Heb 10:16-18), then why do you make yourself so depressed by obsessing over them?

The rest of chapter two discusses how the Gentiles were previously outside of the promises of God, far off, and without hope. But now, in Christ, we are made nigh and part of one big family of God. Our identity is found, therefore, not in our natural self. Your natural man is corrupt. Nothing you do to doctor it up can make it acceptable before a Holy God. But in Christ, we have a new, holy identity that extends so much farther beyond us as individuals. We are fellow citizens with the saints, built upon a wonderful and storied foundation of the apostles and prophets of old, with Jesus Christ himself the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:19-22). If being found in Christ, being part of this incredible story of the cosmos, and being the very temple of the Holy Ghost isn’t enough for you (things that are only possible because of the redemption you have in Christ), nothing will be.

Our identity is founded in God’s identity

As Paul wraps up laying out our identity in Christ in chapter three, he first lays out our calling in the church age. He was secure in his calling, even though he called himself “less than the least of all saints” and the chief of sinners (Eph 3:8, 1 Tim 1:15). Paul knew that he was weak, but that wasn’t a problem. Why?

1 Corinthians 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Something I’ve noticed among my generation of Christians is that we constantly talk about how sinful we are. What a failure we are. How immature we are. How unqualified we are. We say things about ourselves that we would never say about one of our brothers or sisters in Christ. You DO need to acknowledge your weakness, but you also have to stop flagellating yourself as if that somehow makes you holier. Because God doesn’t just choose the weak and leave them weak. He doesn’t choose the unqualified and leave them unqualified. He doesn’t choose the simple and leave them simple. He chooses them, and then he makes HIMSELF wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption UNTO them!

You’re right about your weaknesses. You don’t have any wisdom or righteousness of your own. You can’t sanctify or redeem yourself, no matter how hard you try. But it’s not on you! Christ is the one who becomes those things for you. It doesn’t matter how weak or sinful you are; Christ is everything you need. We need to stop acting like our weaknesses disqualify us, because God’s word says exactly the opposite. Stop grieving the Holy Ghost by lying against the truth of God’s word, which proclaims that it’s in your weakness and inability that the power of Christ rests upon you (2 Cor 12:9-10).

“If you find yourself in an identity crisis, the answer really is the same as it is for most of our problems: read your Bible and pray”

Finally, our identity is wrapped up in the fact that God is our Father. As Brandon pointed out, the world thinks that the highest virtue is to subvert authority. In one of my grad school classes recently, there was a discussion about how the girls in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women all love their father and want to please him. The general consensus was that the sisters working on their Christian and feminine character in order to please their father upon his return from war was distasteful at best and sexist at worst. Yet even secular psychology tells us that a father’s presence and healthy affection has a measurable impact on an individual’s mental well being, and the lack thereof is detrimental.

The world wants to say that our identity can and should only come from within, but the reality is that so much of our identity is based on external factors. Many of us had varying degrees of hardship growing up which have shaped our natural identity. But the good news is that no matter what you have faced in the past, no matter what kind of earthly heritage you have, in Christ you have a perfect Heavenly Father. So much of our earthly identity is shaped by who our earthly fathers are and how they behaved towards us. So, what greater confidence could we have than to be secure in the identity of our Father, the King over all and Father of fathers?

The reason we spend so much time seeking the attention and approval of the people around us (authority figures, romantic interests, friends) is because we are forgetting who our Father is. We are forgetting that he is fullness, mercy, light, and love. We have traded an intimate relationship with a perfect Father for pale comparisons and loveless, religious labor.

If you find yourself in an identity crisis, the answer really is the same as it is for most of our problems: read your Bible and pray. I know there are a lot of emotions and thoughts and circumstances wrapped up in all of this, but ultimately what you need most is to turn to God’s word, let him speak truth over your life, and agree with him in prayer over it. If you find it hard to agree, continue to let Christ wash you with water by the word until you’re able. Don’t let the world or your flesh or the devil tell you who you are; let your Redeemer declare it in the face of their accusations. We’ve got a job to do and a wonderful Saviour who wants to walk with us as we do it. I’d much rather identify with what he says about me than anything I could come up with.

Melissa Wharton is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and a part of C&YA. She serves in Temple Worship and Living Faith Books, and leads a women’s Bible study in midtown KC.