MY LIFE: #40 Identity in Salvation

Since meaning and purpose come from our identity, it is critical that we know who the driving force of our identity is – the enemy or Christ.

IDENTITY IN CHRIST THROUGH SALVATION

The precise truths of my identity in Christ at salvation were not shown to me on the day I received Christ as my Savior.  For some reason, I did not make the connection that I was completely taken out of Adam’s life and placed in Christ’s Life.  I continued to function as if the two lives were somehow meticulously blended into one life – a theological blunder many new converts suffer under.  It is because of this deception that a new convert blends the identities of both the old and new Natures into one identity.

“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

(Colossians 3:1-4)

SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF DECEPTION

Once upon a time, in the quiet town of Lynn Grove, lived a young man named Stephen. Stephen was an ordinary teenager with an extraordinary passion for music. He spent his days flunking out in school and his nights banging on his cheap set of drums, dreaming of a life beyond the confines of his small town.

One day, a poster caught his eye. "Live Concert: Alice Cooper Live!" it read. Alice was Stephen's idol, a rock star known for his electrifying performances and his demonically charged music. Stephen knew he couldn't miss this opportunity, so he saved every penny he earned to buy a ticket.

The night of the concert was a revelation for Stephen. He was mesmerized by Alice’s performance, the energy of the crowd, and the power of music to connect people. He felt a sense of belonging he had never experienced before.

Inspired, Stephen decided to join a local band. He convinced the band leader to adopt an Alice Cooper segment to the show, practiced relentlessly, and mastered the look and sound of the Cooper band, which surprisingly gained local celebrity status. They started performing at local venues, and to their surprise, people loved them. Stephen found his voice, not just in music, but in his identity. He was no longer just a misfit schoolboy from a local town; he was a wannabe rock star, the lead singer of "The Blue Star Show Band.”

Stephen's story spread, and eventually, after becoming a Christian, Alice Cooper (Vince) heard about the man who replicated his music and persona from Nowheresville. Impressed by Stephen's passion for Christ, Vince invited him to disciple him in Christ. Standing in awe of the opportunity, Stephen was faced with the profound truth that his past opened the door to help his past-life idol discover the new identity Stephen found in his salvation in Christ.

Of course, this story is none other than mine. While I was not the one God used to lead Vince to the acceptance of indwelling salvation, it became an experience to remind me that our idols indeed inspire us, but it's our passion, dedication, and identity in Christ through our salvation testimony, that truly motivates others to discover the life of Jesus Christ.

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For most of my young life, I have been somebody other than who I was created to be in Christ. Since my name meant nothing to me and others, I learned to live off of the higher reputation of others. This made me a name-dropper like no other.

An amazing thing happened after discovering who I was in Christ: I became known for releasing the identity, power, and purpose of the greatest name in all of eternity - Jesus Christ. Well, ironically, I’m still a name-dropper.

Earlier, what I didn’t realize is that we were created to be name-droppers - to drop the name of Jesus Christ whenever we can and literally live in and through His identity. Therefore, my greatest revelation is that my past habit of living off the identity of another is the foundation of authentic Christianity. Allow me to explain.

LIVING LIFE THROUGH ANOTHER’S IDENTITY

Diagram ID-103 further explains the position of the believer’s identity in Christ. As depicted in Romans 6:5-7:

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)

This passage speaks of the “old self” being crucified with Jesus. The diagram goes on to reveal that the indwelt believer is buried and raised with Him. The most significant principle being revealed here is the believer’s position – seated at the right hand of God in Christ.

Knowing that behavior comes from position and not condition, victory is sure to be experienced when behaviors are manifesting Christ’s actions. There are three ways converts can manifest behaviors in life:

1. Hanging on the Cross (poor me)

2. Sitting in the tomb (darkness and despair)

3. Seated at the right hand of God (seeing all of life from God’s perspective)

Many teach this passage as if it is an experience to come, as in when we go to Heaven. The Truth being said it is a position the indwelt believer is given upon the moment of Salvation.

For a believer to be able to know the reality of their position in Christ, each must embrace the TRUTH that identity in Christ comes with salvation.

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF THE CROSS

The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is an important truth of the Christian’s theological foundation. In fact, it is crucial to the authentic Gospel, the crux of the message. Ironically, crux is the Latin word for “cross” - which identifies the Cross of Christ as the pivotal truth for the believer’s identity.

In His death, Jesus provided the only pathway to freedom for all. Here is why…

Since He was a sinless Savior, He provided the perfect, flawless blood sacrifice required by His Father. In this, He became the second Adam but in its perfect form. Whereas the first Adam had failed at retaining the perfect seed line for humanity (Rom. 5:12), thus, all became "sinners" through his defiled seed (Rom. 5:19), while delivering condemnation to all born from his corrupt seed (Rom. 5:18) - which is everlasting death.

God had originally told Adam in the Garden, "In the day that thou eat from it - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - you will surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The consequence of sin was death (separated from God), psychological (depraved minds) and physical forms (body would die and remain in the grave).

Jesus, the Son of God, was incarnated as the Godman; who, as man, could experience the death consequences of sin; who, as sinless man, could take those death consequences and pay the cost of sin for all humanity; and who, as God, could restore heavenly life to man spiritually, in order to restore man to the Father.

As a man, Jesus incurred all the death consequences that had occurred in Adam. As a sinless man, sin & death had no right to Him personally and could not hold Him. As God, He could thus save the faithful from the consequences of sin. Furthermore, He can restore the select few by providing His Life within all those who received His Spirit - the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came “to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). Jesus "came that we might have life" (John 10:10). The death of Jesus on a cross is the corrective action modelled in order to restore God's indwelling life, through Christ, in man. The counteractive purpose of death and the restorative purpose of life are inseparable in the consideration of the Biblical significance of the death of Jesus Christ on a cross.

While being pinned to the Cross, He knew it took imminent physical death to provide redemption. After He said, "It is finished!" (John 19:30), the broken bridge between God and man was restored. The perfect tense is used, indicating completed action in the past, manifesting in the present & remaining into the future. In Hebrew, the meaning is fulfilled requirements of debt. In the first century, Jesus’s words were inscribed on certificates of indebtedness when debts were paid in full. This is edifying when we consider Paul's comment in Col. 2:14 about the "certificate of debt" having been taken out of the way, having been "nailed to the cross."

Sin presented an indebtedness of condemnation; the Law presented an impossible DEBT, a big "IOU" before God. In and through Christ, this debt was paid in full, thus removing condemnation and self-life performance – leaving only REST in the “finished work" of Jesus Christ.

Redemption, whereby we are "bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23) that has been "paid in full" by the death of Jesus, is the corrective measure that was required by the Law. Consequently, regeneration is the restorative factor, wherein the life of God once again indwells man through His Son’s own Spirit.

Because of the CROSS, and His "finished work," all converted (born-again) believers share in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, the Spirit’s outpouring, and complete end-times expectations.

Due to the significant work Christ accomplished on the CROSS, all verbiage used by the writers of the New Testament maintains the words Jesus cried out from the cross, "It is finished!", resulting in providing restoration for God by unifying man unto Himself. This was accomplished by placing His Spirit in all those who become saved.

Since the time of the Cross, there is nothing we can do! All redemption is wrapped up in the Cross of Jesus. No human can take any credit for authentic change in the soul. This is "offensive" to God when humanity attempts to find solutions aside from Christ. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the subsequent availability of the divine life to all mankind, comprises the "finished work" - the sole basis of right relationship and fellowship with God.

Coming up next is #41, “The Cross is Not Religion.”