It Really Is Good NewsSample

Identity and Transformation

Knowing who you are and whose you are is foundational to discipleship because our discipleship will be an overflow of our relationship with God. The good news of Jesus is personal. Because of Him, we get to be in relationship with God!

And since the good news of Jesus is personal, we have to believe it to be true for our everyday lives and struggles. We have been given the gift of a new identity in Christ, so we get to live lives that reflect this new life!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Yesterday I mentioned that when I think of discipleship I think of people, individuals who have been a part of my life. And I think if someone were to ask you about your own journey in faith, specific people would come to mind for you as well. This is because people, that means you, play an important role in the story of God. God's plan from the beginning was people. He made people in His image, told them to fill and subdue the earth. He was dwelling and walking with them in the garden because He wanted to be with us. But then sin entered through Eve, and the plan of redemption was set into motion. Our Holy God couldn't be near His people because of sin. But the good news is that He didn't leave us on our own, He chased us down in love.

He would send a Savior, Jesus, to save us from our sin and would give us His Spirit to make our home in us and to be with us forever.

He chose us as His children, and as we have talked about in previous days, He has anointed us with the privilege of sharing Jesus and His love and grace with the world to bring others into this family. His heart is that all people would come to know and love Him! When Jesus was praying to the Father before going to the cross he prayed “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21 ESV)

And why does understanding this new identity matter? Because with His Holy Spirit living in us, people come to know Christ as He makes himself known through our very lives. Your freedom in Christ and your understanding of His love for you will be a way other people come to know and believe the good news of Jesus. Freedom multiplies! As disciples of Jesus we are to be imitators of Him.

Paul says in the book of 1st Corinthians to "imitate me as I imitate Christ". And this isn't the only place in the New Testament where we learn about this kind of imitation. It's all over Paul's letters! But how did Paul lay down his life, take up his cross and follow Jesus? Paul had an encounter with God, experienced the grace and forgiveness found in Jesus and then he LIVED LIKE IT.

Paul knew who he was and whose he was, and that propelled him into a life of radical faith and obedience to God. A life pursuing holiness. A life of being formed into the image of Jesus.

When we daily receive the good news of Jesus Christ, we begin to trust that His ways are the best ways. Our lives should change. Turning from sin leads us to new ways of living. We look to the Word and receive from Jesus, and then we allow His Spirit to teach us how to live lives that reflect Him. We listen to the guiding voice of the Spirit in our lives and desire to let Him motivate all that we are.

It requires us surrendering our own way for His way and as we do, by the power of God we are made into the image of Jesus.

This is what making disciples is all about.

Prayer:

Lord, help me surrender to your will and your ways. I need your help to live in light of my new identity in Christ. Holy Spirit, I ask for your help to reveal the areas of my life where I’m walking in disobedience and sin. Show me where I need your grace and forgiveness, and transform my life to look more and more like your Son Jesus. I know you alone are Holy God, and so help me pursue a life marked by holiness.