Identity in Jesus
About this series
Obviously we are always focussed on Jesus, but in our first series - Just Jesus - we’re going to look, over 13 weeks, at some of the high points in the New Testament that show us who Jesus is, why he’s so wonderful, what he’s done for us and what it means to live in the light of all that.
Sinclair Ferguson wrote, ‘We need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing and extolling Jesus Christ’ - that is precisely our aim in the Just Jesus series. The more we see of Jesus, the more we’ll have to be delighted in and the greater will be our motivation to live for him in our everyday lives.
So, come with great expectation that the Holy Spirit will be powerfully at work leading us to know and love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
About this talk
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
Paul’s favourite designation for Christians is those who are “in Christ” (used, along with similar phrases, over 100 times in his letters). John Stott says, ‘To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ, as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.’ It’s a profound term signifying so many things. It speaks of relationship with him; of being united with him and blessed because of that union; that what is true of him becomes, by faith, true of us; that he is in us because we are in him; that our status/identity is defined by Christ, even when our conduct is sinful. So in these verses we have 9 instances of this and related terms: “in Christ” (v 3); “in him” (v 4); “through Jesus Christ” (v 5); “in the One he loves” (v 6); “in him” (v 7); “in him” (v 11); “in Christ” (v 12); “in Christ” (v 13); “in him” (v 13). Cf. another five instances in Ephesians 2:4-10. All of which only serves to make much of God, rather than us. Sure, we have huge dignity as his children, as those in Christ, but all praise and glory goes to him (vs 3, 6, 12, 14).
We look into the following:
Why might this be Paul’s favourite way of describing followers of Jesus?
What ways can you think of that illustrate the truth of being ‘in Christ’?
What does all this say about our identity in a world full of identity crisis?
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In Revelation 1, John sees a magnificent vision of Jesus. This chapter presents us with the magnificence of Jesus Christ - the Lion, the Lamb, the one of whom all in heaven and earth forever cry “Worthy.”