Christian Life Church
December 29, 2024 at 8:30am & 10:00am
Labels, Identities and the Blood of Jesus
Locations & Times
Christian Life Church Columbia
2700 Bush River Rd, Columbia, SC 29210, USA
Sunday 8:00 AM
LABELS, IDENTITIES AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS
DECEMBER 29, 2024
SCRIPTURE
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-9 ESV)
I. The enemy has leveraged a powerful cultural context of labels and identities against the church.
Labels may legitimize, validate, and empower mindsets, choices, and behavior.
Labels construct false realities and normalize those that are distorted.
Labels often become intertwined with our identity, affecting self-esteem, and one’s sense of worth.
II. Jesus paid the ultimate price to demolish old labels and give us a new identity in Him.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And SUCH WERE some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (I Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)
Embracing an ungodly identity is like sustaining a covenant agreement with the enemy’s purposes.
Living under a godless label devalues and diminishes the power of Jesus’ blood towards you.
The enemy has an endgame concerning you.
Jesus will not make a truce with our unredeemed identity.
Jesus and the Samaritan woman
Her journey involved significant hurt, apparent rejection, and living in sexual sin.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. (John 4:16)
Jesus directly confronted the label that became an inescapable context for her.
Jesus not only wants to remove the label, he wants to demolish it as a stronghold in our lives.
III. Lessons in the life of Gideon
Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you.” (Judges 6:11-14)
The Lord calls, identifies, and sees us according to his heart, plan, and purposes.
God does not flatter, inflate, or exaggerate.
The Lord’s identity for you includes all He has designed, furnished, and supplied by His Spirit.
Identity rooted in him is not a cheap substitute or make-believe.
That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. (Judges 11:25-27)
Before Gideon stepped into his God-given identity, he had to make a clean break with his past.
God’s immediate requirement of Gideon
The purpose of Asherah poles
Illegitimate identities can function like idols.
IV. Ungodly identities and labels most often produce shame.
Jesus paid a substitutionary price to remove our shame.
Hester Prynne and the Scarlett Letter
Captivity of secret labels and the fear of man
Jesus never defines one of his children by a particular temptation, inclination, sin, or weakness.
Stop empowering the Satanic label and fix your eyes on the finished work of Christ!
V. Jacob receives his God-given identity.
Jacob’s entire lifetime was manipulation, deceit, and defrauding others.
He seized upon his brother’s maturity and weakness while stealing his birthright.
Jacob willfully deceived his father into conveying the firstborn blessing to him.
The climactic moment of Jacob’s life
And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Genesis 32:24-31)
4. Notice the Lord didn’t call Jacob “limper” or “crippled afterwards.”
The Lord changes Jacob’s identity from “deceiver” to “prince with God.”
My Identity in Christ
I am the object of His deep affection. (Romans 5:8; John 15:9)
I am God’s child. (John 1:12)
I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)
I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
I am His purchased possession. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
I am a member of Christ’s Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
I am a citizen of heaven. (Philippians 3:20)
I am hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
I have been given the Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18)
I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. (Ephesians 1:3)
I am chosen in Him before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4, 11)
I am holy and blameless in Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
I have received full sonship as his child. (Ephesians 1:5)
I am in Christ and He is in me. (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
I have redemption (purchased by Jesus’ blood). (Ephesians 1:8)
I am forgiven. (Ephesians 1:8; Colossians 1:14)
I have purpose in Him. (Ephesians 1:9 and 3:11)
I am included in His family. (Ephesians 1:13)
I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13)
I am set apart by Him (a saint). (Ephesians 1:18) I am the salt and light of the earth. (Matthew 5:13-14)
I am a personal witness of Jesus Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am a co-laborer with Christ. (2 Corinthians 6:1)
I am an ambassador of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
I am alive with Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)
I am a partaker of His resurrection life (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10)
I have been brought near to God through Christ’s blood. (Ephesians 2:13)
I have full access to the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)
I am a member of God’s household. (Ephesians 2:19)
I am a dwelling place of the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19)
I am prayed for by Jesus Christ. (John 17:20-23)
I am placed by Him in family with other believers. (John 17:20-23)
I am chosen as the object of God’s deep affection. (Colossians 3:12)
I am blameless. (I Corinthians 1:8)
I am a light in the world. (Matthew 5:14)
I am more than a conqueror. (Romans 8:37)
DECEMBER 29, 2024
SCRIPTURE
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-9 ESV)
I. The enemy has leveraged a powerful cultural context of labels and identities against the church.
Labels may legitimize, validate, and empower mindsets, choices, and behavior.
Labels construct false realities and normalize those that are distorted.
Labels often become intertwined with our identity, affecting self-esteem, and one’s sense of worth.
II. Jesus paid the ultimate price to demolish old labels and give us a new identity in Him.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And SUCH WERE some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (I Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)
Embracing an ungodly identity is like sustaining a covenant agreement with the enemy’s purposes.
Living under a godless label devalues and diminishes the power of Jesus’ blood towards you.
The enemy has an endgame concerning you.
Jesus will not make a truce with our unredeemed identity.
Jesus and the Samaritan woman
Her journey involved significant hurt, apparent rejection, and living in sexual sin.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. (John 4:16)
Jesus directly confronted the label that became an inescapable context for her.
Jesus not only wants to remove the label, he wants to demolish it as a stronghold in our lives.
III. Lessons in the life of Gideon
Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you.” (Judges 6:11-14)
The Lord calls, identifies, and sees us according to his heart, plan, and purposes.
God does not flatter, inflate, or exaggerate.
The Lord’s identity for you includes all He has designed, furnished, and supplied by His Spirit.
Identity rooted in him is not a cheap substitute or make-believe.
That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. (Judges 11:25-27)
Before Gideon stepped into his God-given identity, he had to make a clean break with his past.
God’s immediate requirement of Gideon
The purpose of Asherah poles
Illegitimate identities can function like idols.
IV. Ungodly identities and labels most often produce shame.
Jesus paid a substitutionary price to remove our shame.
Hester Prynne and the Scarlett Letter
Captivity of secret labels and the fear of man
Jesus never defines one of his children by a particular temptation, inclination, sin, or weakness.
Stop empowering the Satanic label and fix your eyes on the finished work of Christ!
V. Jacob receives his God-given identity.
Jacob’s entire lifetime was manipulation, deceit, and defrauding others.
He seized upon his brother’s maturity and weakness while stealing his birthright.
Jacob willfully deceived his father into conveying the firstborn blessing to him.
The climactic moment of Jacob’s life
And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Genesis 32:24-31)
4. Notice the Lord didn’t call Jacob “limper” or “crippled afterwards.”
The Lord changes Jacob’s identity from “deceiver” to “prince with God.”
My Identity in Christ
I am the object of His deep affection. (Romans 5:8; John 15:9)
I am God’s child. (John 1:12)
I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)
I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:15)
I am His purchased possession. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
I am a member of Christ’s Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
I am a citizen of heaven. (Philippians 3:20)
I am hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
I have been given the Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18)
I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. (Ephesians 1:3)
I am chosen in Him before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4, 11)
I am holy and blameless in Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
I have received full sonship as his child. (Ephesians 1:5)
I am in Christ and He is in me. (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
I have redemption (purchased by Jesus’ blood). (Ephesians 1:8)
I am forgiven. (Ephesians 1:8; Colossians 1:14)
I have purpose in Him. (Ephesians 1:9 and 3:11)
I am included in His family. (Ephesians 1:13)
I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13)
I am set apart by Him (a saint). (Ephesians 1:18) I am the salt and light of the earth. (Matthew 5:13-14)
I am a personal witness of Jesus Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am a co-laborer with Christ. (2 Corinthians 6:1)
I am an ambassador of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
I am alive with Christ. (Ephesians 2:5)
I am a partaker of His resurrection life (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10)
I have been brought near to God through Christ’s blood. (Ephesians 2:13)
I have full access to the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)
I am a member of God’s household. (Ephesians 2:19)
I am a dwelling place of the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19)
I am prayed for by Jesus Christ. (John 17:20-23)
I am placed by Him in family with other believers. (John 17:20-23)
I am chosen as the object of God’s deep affection. (Colossians 3:12)
I am blameless. (I Corinthians 1:8)
I am a light in the world. (Matthew 5:14)
I am more than a conqueror. (Romans 8:37)