Who Am I? Living Out an Identity Grounded in God’s Reality
April 19, 2026
The Nature and Importance of Identity
–Human vs. individual
–Independent vs. dependent on others
–Unchangeable vs. changeable
–Outside our control vs. within our control
Over and over in Scripture, we see a progression from reality to identity to action.
Physical world:
Moral and spiritual world:
Colossians 2:8-12
Reality: In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Christ is the head over every power and authority, and Christ was raised from the dead.
Identity: You have been given fullness in Christ, have put off the sinful nature, have been buried with Christ in baptism, and have been raised with him through faith.
Action: Don’t be taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy that depends on the rules of this world rather than on Christ.
Colossians 2:13-17
Reality: God canceled the written code and nailed it to the cross.
Identity: You have been made alive with Christ, and your sins are forgiven.
Action: Do not let anyone judge you by the rules of the old written code.
Colossians 2:20-23
Reality: You died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.
Identity: You no longer belong to the world and are not subject to its rules.
Action: Do not submit to the rules of this world that lack value and will perish.
“Paul’s premise is that the Colossians have died with Christ (2:20); therefore trusting the finished work of Christ and living as what they are in him, rather than following human religious regulations (2:21-23), will produce holy living.” (Craig Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 577-578.)
Colossians 3:1-5
Reality: You died and have been raised with Christ. Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Identity: Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Action: Set your hearts on things above, and put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
1 Cor. 6:15-20
Reality: You are not your own but were bought at a price—the price of Christ’s blood.
Identity: Your bodies are members of Christ himself and the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Action: Flee from sexual immorality and honor God with your body.
“The Old Testament speaks of people being ‘joined’ to God (Jer. 50:5; Zech. 2:11; cf. Num. 25:3; Hos 4:17). Paul works here especially with the Old Testament doctrine that God is married to his covenant people…Thus Christians uniting themselves with prostitutes would defile the sanctity of their relationship with God, as in t he religious prostitution so common in pre-Roman Corinth.” (Craig Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 465.)
1 Peter 2:9-11
Reality: You were called by God out of darkness into his wonderful light. You have received mercy.
Identity: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. You are aliens and strangers in the world.
Action: Abstain from sinful desires that war against your soul.
Errors to Avoid
- Deny the givenness of reality.
“Belief in objective reality is a precondition for belief in Christianity.” (Michael Ward, January 30, 2022.)
“To be truly and human, we need to ‘find’ ourselves in relationship to the One who made us and for whom we are made. The gospel is the way we learn to be human.” (James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love, 8.)
“It is not that they are bad men. They are not men at all….. They have stepped into the void….Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.” (Lewis, The Abolition of Man,64.)
- Divorce our identity from reality.
- Deviate in our actions from our identity and reality.
“The doctrine of creation is not just a metaphysics—a statement of what the cosmos is. Rather, think of the biblical theology of creation as a manifesto, as marching orders, as a commission. More importantly, the biblical teaching on creation is a charge, a mission, a commission that sends us into God’s good but broken world with a calling.” (James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love, 172 (emphasis in the original).)
Steps to Take
- Accept that there are aspects of reality that are given, that are fixed, and that you can’t change no matter what you want, believe, or feel to be real.
“If I had to isolate a single priority for Christians in educating their children, it would be to convey to them a deep and abiding confidence that there is a givenness to the universe and to human nature….The most urgent educative priority of parents is to enable their children to acquire a confidence in the givenness of things.” (Ken Myers, “Education and the Recovery of the Non-modern Mind,” 5-6.)
- Seek to understand the various layers of your identity.
- Live in a way that aligns with your identity and the nature of reality.
What is at Stake?
Living out our identity in a way that aligns with reality reflects the character of God.
Memory Verse: Colossians 3:1
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”