Who Are You?

Way back in 1978, a guy named Pete Townshend, guitarist for a rock band called “The Who” wrote a song called, “Who Are You?”

The song was written after a night of excessive drinking and brawling that resulted in Townshend passing out in a doorway in London’s Soho district. A policeman recognized him, woke him up, and told him he could sleep at home that night if he could just get up and walk away.

He did and the song went on to become one of the band’s most famous. You may remember that it was used as the theme song for the CSI series of television programs.

I bring this up because from what I have seen of my fellow Christians, I don’t think the majority of us really understand who God says we are.

Sure, we all know the 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

But if we’re asked who we are, many Christians will say, “Oh I’m just a poor sinner saved by grace.”

Yes, it’s true. We are saved by grace, but once we accept Jesus Christ as LORD, God no longer looks upon us as sinners.

If He did, how could we come boldly before His very throne as it says in Hebrews 4:16? 

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

That is such an amazing verse! You and I are invited to come into God’s throne room, to come before the God who created the universe and everything, boldly! 

Now, before we go any further, let me very clearly say I am not in any way advocating a kind of cocky Christianity. The Bible is absolutely crystal clear on how God views the arrogant. Humility is extremely important to God and there is no doubt at all that He opposes any kind of pharisaical religiosity or “holier-than-thou” attitude. 

Okay, now that we’re clear on that, let’s go back for a moment and review some Old Testament stuff. Way back in Leviticus 16, God lists the requirements for the High Priest to come before Him in the back of the temple in the Holy of Holies. This could only take place once per year on Yom Kippur only, and only the High Priest could do it and only after he had washed his entire body; dressed entirely in plain white linen specially made for that purpose with a sash and a turban of the same material; sacrificed a bull, a ram, and two goats and sprinkled their blood before the Ark of the Covenant exactly as God had prescribed; and carried burning coals with special burning incense with him. 

It’s actually even more complicated and precise than I’ve described it, and they lived in fear that if they didn’t do it exactly correctly, if the High Priest wasn’t entirely and perfectly pure, he would be rejected by God and die. There was even a rumor that they’d tie a rope to the guy’s ankle to pull him out of there if God was displeased and killed him. No one knows if that’s true, though.

The point is, HALLELUJAH!!! 

When Jesus died on that cross, it changed everything! The veil between the temple and the Holy of Holies was torn in two, from top to bottom and we could now come before God pure and sinless in His eyes! Here’s Colossians 1:22

“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Without a single fault! 

Yes, and many of us know that verse, too, but we can’t get over that whole “I sin every day” thing that chases us down and hounds us and won’t let go of us. If someone had put Paul’s “wretched man lament” from Romans 7: 19-25 to music, it could have been my theme song for most of my life.

“For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

But, here’s the deal: The very next verse, (which someone who was NOT Paul decided to put in a different chapter) is Romans 8:1!

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

How much condemnation? How much? 

That’s right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

And why? Romans 8:2

“because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (NLT)

It’s the cross again! ALL our sin and guilt and shame was nailed to that blood-drenched, horrific, evil torture devise and erased –removed from us as far as the east is from the west!  

And there it is! The difference between the old person and the new creation is the Holy Spirit! Let me ask you this: Could God’s own Holy Spirit take up residence and live inside us if we were still unclean, condemned, and hopeless sinners in His eyes?

No! Jesus did not come to this earth to make bad people good. He came to make dead people come alive! And HE did it. No one gets to brag that they saved themselves by their good works. (Romans 3:27) In fact, I personally believe the reason God allows us to occasionally fall down is so that we are reminded that we look up to Him in humility and remember we cannot do anything without Him. (John 15:5)

Okay, let’s go back to the beginning and take the long view on this: Genesis One – God creates the heavens and the earth. He creates Adam, breathes His own Spirit into him to bring him to life (Genesis 2:7), He creates Eve, and then He puts them in charge of ruling the earth. Their relationship with God is perfect, sinless, and all is in harmony.

The devil comes along, tempts and deceives them into sin and the result is that they have committed treason against God – the one being who had the authority to make them rulers of the planet. Now, Satan has stolen that from them by his lies because they have shifted their allegiance from God to Satan. They have believed him instead of God. This is how Satan can say he could give Jesus the kingdoms of this world when he tempted Him in Luke 4 and Matthew 4. (He says those kingdoms have been “given” to him, which is a lie because he stole them.)  

But God does not abandon or destroy Adam and Eve. He promises to crush the head of the serpent, which means He has a plan to restore His relationship with mankind and defeat Satan. 

Now we jump to Leviticus 25, where God sets down the rules for redeeming land. His whole intent here is that He gave the land in Israel to His chosen people and He does not want it to end up belonging to anyone else, ever. So, He mandates that if an Israelite must sell his land because of poverty, he has the right to buy it back. If he cannot buy it back, a close relative can do so and give it back to him. If that doesn’t happen, the land must go back to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee, which was supposed to take place every 50 years. There were similar rules for the poor, slaves, and people who had sold themselves into servitude to pay off debt.

What does this have to do with us? Well, here’s Ephesians 1:7

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace …” (NIV)

And, to be even more clear: Here’s Colossians 2:13-15

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (ESV)

When it says he “disarmed” the rulers and authorities the Greek word means to strip away their power, to divest them of both their power and their claim to ownership. Our debt is nailed to the cross!  

What this means is that Jesus took back what the devil stole! He paid for it with His own blood, on our behalf!

But wait, didn’t God say that only a close relative could do the redeeming? How could that be if we had been kicked out of the garden? Wouldn’t that mean that we had been disinherited, written out of the will, and entitled to nothing? 

Do you remember the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15? Remember how, when the son came back, the father ran to him and put the finest robe on him, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet? That ring was the family crest! It was the legal instrument for pressing the family emblem into wax on legal papers. The father not only took him back, he restored all his legal rights and privileges as a full member of the family.

And, when the elder son objected to all of this, (accompanied by dancing and partying no less),

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” (Luke 15:31 NLT)

Now, let’s add to that Ephesians 1:5:

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

He adopted us into His own family! We are close relatives of Jesus Christ, so our redemption is full, complete, and safe from any challenges our enemy could make. Jesus IS our kinsman redeemer!

If we have any doubt at all about that, here’s Ephesians 1:14:

“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”

Remember the ring on the son’s finger? It was the seal, the guarantee that he had been fully and legally brought back into the family. The Holy Spirit is our seal and guarantee!

Jesus defeat of sin, death, and the devil on the cross and from the empty tomb was so complete that he could say, in Matthew 28:18:

“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. “

Any authority over power, principalities, and rulers of the earth the devil had previously had was stripped away from him. Jesus won. 

God had been restored as King and ruler of the earth, and He had and has the authority to give it to whomever He pleases. He can and does restore what the devil stole from Adam and Eve!

Did you know that the Gospels record Jesus as saying we can ask whatever we want in His name and He will do it for us not once, but six times?

John 14:13-14, John 15:7, John 16:24, Matthew 7:7, and Mark 11:24 all say that. Matthew 21:21 records Jesus as saying we can throw mountains into the sea!

“Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.” (NLT)

That’s a far, far cry from what the devil wants us to believe! Of course he wants us to believe we are just powerless sinners saved by grace! He still wants to rule over us, destroy us, and kill us – but the only way he can do that is if we let him! 

The truth is, Jesus is LORD and King! He is the rightful and legitimate ruler of this earth and we are His dear children, graciously adopted into His family as the heirs of His Kingdom.

Yes, sin still tempts us – even if we are who God says we are. The difference is, when we were dead in our trespasses we actually thought we wanted to live like that! Once the Holy Spirit lives within us, we may occasionally slip up, slide backwards, or even fall down, but our spirit is aligned with God. Our hearts want to please God. Now, we also go through times when a particular sin starts looking good again. That happens to everyone and the Bible calls it being “double-minded.”

But God will provide a means of resisting that temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (NLT)

So, who are you? Who does God say you are? What is your purpose in this life?

Story time:

One of my favorite mission trips ever was to Iquitos, Peru. They have a wonderful ministry there. Iquitos is a city of a half million people in the heart of the Amazon jungle and Genesis Church has a membership of a thousand people, two-thirds of whom are under age 18. The church does amazing things helping the poor, the broken, the abused, the notorious sinners of the inner city. 

One day, we went downtown to a nice restaurant for lunch. We parked on the street and, as soon as the vehicle came to a stop, a guy with tattered clothes, wild hair, and no shoes rushed out from the curb and put a piece of cardboard over our windshield.  Bethany Noriega-Baxter, our leader and guide, explained that the cardboard was intended to keep the jungle sun from heating up the interior of our vehicle and the guy who put it there would expect a tip when we returned.

I was sent to go start the vehicle after the meal and so I tipped him the equivalent of about fifty cents. As we drove away, I was told I had probably slightly over-tipped him, but my response was that Jesus wouldn’t have a problem with me tipping this guy fifty cents, so I was okay with it. Great story, right? 

Anyway, two months later, I’m back in Minnesota, driving to work and praying and I can’t get “Cardboard Guy” out of my head. So, I pray that God would bless him and save him and help him, but the Holy Spirit is still nudging me to do more. 

So, I sent Bethany a message saying that I was going to send her $20 and she should go find Cardboard Guy, buy him a pair of shoes, and tell him God has a plan for his life.

And suddenly, I stop and think to myself, “Wait a minute. How do I know what God’s purpose for Cardboard Guy is? What am I supposed to tell him?

Well, duh. Cardboard Guy’s purpose in life is the same as yours and mine. It’s the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission, right?

Love God and love people with all you’ve got, and once you do that, you can’t help but introduce them to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ – and everything I’ve just told you powerfully and greatly equips us to do just that!

We are clay pots entrusted by God with the greatest, most amazing, powerful and glorious treasure the world has ever or will ever know! (2 Corinthians 4:7)

The point of who we are and our purpose is beautifully summarized in Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT)

So, no we are NOT weak little sinners saved by grace cowering from the devil. The Bible absolutely contradicts that. God has a plan and purpose for our lives. 2 Timothy 1:7 

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (NLT)

Oh, and to wrap this all up with a bow, remember that whole “wretched man” thing Paul wrote in Romans 7? Well, this is what he writes in the very next chapter! Romans 8:28-39.

“28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.

35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If that doesn’t get you to turn off the TV and get up off the couch, I don’t know what else to tell you! HALLELUJAH! Rise up and proclaim Jesus as LORD in all you say and do, you who are more than conquerors! AMEN!