Dr. Evans continued his series of sermons on the benefits emerging from a growing, relational knowledge of God this week by discussing the benefit of “spiritual identity.” He observed that identity theft is a particularly painful crime because our own identity and personal information are stolen and used against us. In the aftermath of the theft, we must battle to re-establish who we are, refuting the criminal who has taken our identity from us. As Christians, we are facing an identity war on a spiritual plane. Dr. Evans suggested three key points to assist each of us in recovering and protecting our spiritual identity, answering the question, “Who are you?”
1. Our true spiritual identity can only be found “in Christ.” In the Scripture reading for today, the Apostle Paul reminded a group of identity-confused Christians at Corinth that "…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things are passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The church at Corinth was guilty of showing favor to certain people based on their impressive credentials and outward appearances—“…for those who take pride in appearance and not in the heart” (2 Corinthians 5:12). But as believers we are “new creatures,” and we have been re-birthed into a new identity (the “new birth”) that is rooted in Christ and His reconciling work for us on the cross. We have been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:19), and because we stand before Him as His reconciled sons and daughters, we, like Paul, must now “…recognize no man according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16). Just as a prince or a princess receives his or her identity based on birth rather than on a list of accomplishments, we must remember that as believers we are “in Christ” and this alone determines our spiritual identity as the sons and daughters of the King.
2. We, as believers, have an enemy, the devil, who will try to steal or counterfeit our spiritual identity. Dr. Evans noted that, like the on-line predators who steal our financial information in order to commit identity theft, we, as believers, must be on-guard against “spiritual identity theft” by our enemy the devil. Jesus similarly warned that the devil is a “thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The devil often works by counterfeiting our identity in Christ, replacing it with alternative identities rooted in financial standing (the amount of money we have in our accounts), outward appearance (the clothes we have), or employment (a prestigious job). As believers, we must arm ourselves against these lies with the truth that in Christ we are “new creatures” who “no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again for us” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
3. A deeper knowledge of God can lead us into a deeper recognition of our spiritual identity. The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians that these “new things” (“the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come”—2 Corinthians 5:17) that comprise our spiritual identity as “new creatures” are “from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ….” (2 Corinthians 5:18). As believers, we are sons and daughters of God, and in coming to know our Heavenly Father better we are also coming to a deeper knowledge of our true selves—our true spiritual identity.
In this series of sermons, Dr. Evans has been challenging us to plunge deeper into a more intimate, relational knowledge of God. As we study His Word and communicate with Him in prayer, we come to know more and more of the deep love of the Father for his children, the Father who was “in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them…2 Corinthians 5:19).
